Themes of Filipino Komiks Short Stories Free Essay Example

This study is a content analysis of the various themes, sub-themes and the types of endings contained in the short stories in Filipino comic books, thereafter referred to in its vernacular form, “komiks. ” The study sampled 30 komiks from two of the top komiks publishers in the Philippines. There were 10 samples of EXTRA (Special) komiks by the Atlas Publishing Company, thereafter referred to as “Atlas Publishing,” and 20 samples of United (Super Stories) komiks by Graphic Arts and Services, Inc. , thereafter referred to as “GASI.

” The dates of the komiks analyzed covered the period May to September 1992. Using frequency counts, it was determined that there were 18 major themes in the study, the most recurring of which were romance, human nature and marital relationship. These major themes have variations? type of romance, type of married life, emotions or characteristics intrinsic to a human being? which were categorized as sub-themes. The sub-themes under romance were: courtship, illicit relationship, office romance, romantic rivalry and unrequited love.

The sub-themes under marital relationship were: harmony or bliss, discord, petty problems and infidelity. There were 20 sub-themes under human nature that were negative and positive characteristics of human beings. Endings were classified as happy, tragic, didactic or suspended. Results showed that whatever the types of themes or ending are used, komiks content still leave a lot to be desired. Stories were full of fatalistic and escapist attitudes. Problems tackled were mostly individualistic and were not given any feasible or practical solutions. I. Introduction

Today, the Filipino komiks is regarded as the country’s “top entertainment source” since it enjoys the highest readership level than all other printed materials combined.

The reasons for the komiks’ popularity are numerous: They are cheap, portable, accessible, easy to read, and emotionally and psychologically gratifying. Komiks are relatively cheap; they cost around four pesos each. Komiks also come in a handy size: 10 1/2″ x 6 1/2″. They can be taken anywhere easily, lent or rented to many people and can be enjoyed repeatedly with minimal spending compared to the movies, radio or television.

Because of its wide circulation, even remote villages, which do not enjoy the benefits of electricity, have access to the komiks. The komiks is easy to read and understand because stories are in graphic format and because of its use of colloquial Tagalog. The komiks has been, and still is, tagged as “pang-masa” or folk media, since it is the recognized reading fare of the lower classes. This may be due to their being able to identify with the komiks’ heroes or heroines in the varied situations in which the characters find themselves.

Another factor is that the komiks may be their only source of entertainment. As a form of escape, the komiks have great appeal to the masses. With it, they can find a temporary balm to their seemingly endless and unsolvable problems. The oldest known illustrated comic strips by a Filipino have been traced back to the national hero Jose Rizal. His comic strips, now known as pantomime comics because they contained no dialogue, relied on the characters’ actions and facial expressions for indications of emotions or of the situation.

The Filipino komiks, as known today, have been patterned after American comic books, which were introduced and became widespread in the Philippines World War I. The forerunner of the Filipino komiks is Photo News, which was first issued on June 15, 1922. After 10 issues, Photo News became Liwayway? one of today’s most popular Filipino komiks magazines? and began weekly publication. The first Tagalog comic strip, first featured in Liwayway in 1929, was “Kenkoy” by Antonio Velasquez. “Kenkoy” became a hit.

Gradually, Filipino cartoonists, illustrators and novelists adapted local versions of the American comics superheroes such as Superman, Tarzan, Batman, etc. After World War II (1945), the komiks industry mushroomed; the number of comic books multiplied in direct proportion to the number of komiks publishers. There were Pilipino Komiks, Hiwaga Komiks, Espesyal Komiks, and Bulaklak Komiks. Their publication was twice weekly. The late 60s and early 70s saw the increase of komiks, which contained sex, crime and violence.

The proclamation of Martial Law in September 1972 ended the proliferation of these comic books referred to as “bomba” because of the explicit pornography they contained. At present, there are more than 88 komiks titles issued weekly by publishers such as Atlas Publishing and GASI. Topics are many and varied; be the stories short or serialized, their subjects have dealt with all aspects of life? faith, friendship, family, love, sex and others. The komiks’ immense popularity with the majority of the Filipino public makes it a force to be reckoned with.

For some time, the industry has been downplayed as a medium of communication? as an instrument for public education and influence. Thus, this research aims to contribute more knowledge about this most pervasive print medium in the country by analyzing and identifying themes in these short story-komiks. This study may be of help, someday, to those who may wish to dig into the Filipino psyche and discover in the pages of these komiks how he or she sees life. Hopefully, this research provides material which will add to the understanding of the Filipino and his culture.

After all, the komiks is part of the Filipino way of life and its stories reveal facets of the Filipino’s view of himself and the world. II. Review Of Related Literature This study attempted to identify and enumerate the themes of short stories in the Filipino komiks. Relevant printed materials have been consulted which were deemed helpful in providing more information and deeper insight into the topic. The Filipino komiks is now being recognized as a potent mass medium. In fact, it is the “most powerful and popular form of literature” in the country, according to Marila Berceno.

The komiks “touches the life of almost every Filipino? (thus) it could influence his thinking, attitudes and, consequently, his actions. ” Berceno’s thesis on the Filipina as projected by the local komiks sought to discover how the Filipina was portrayed in her sample of 44 komiks magazines, using content analysis in the descriptive form. Aside from the female characters’ age, occupation, problems, roles, motives or goals, the study also considered the portrayal of the female characters’ strength, goodness, potency, authority and success in achieving her goals.

The results showed the Filipina’s traditional image as young and either single or a housewife and mostly preoccupied with love or with matters about her home. She was not shown as a leading community figure or as one who bothers about community or societal problems. Berceno’s study is relevant since the Filipina has always played an important role in Filipino society. However, the study may be subject to the researcher’s individual and social biases particularly on the analysis of the female comic characters’ abstract qualities. A thesis by Barbara Ricafrente declared that the Filipina “when not portraying as one ?

playing second fiddle’ to her male counterpart? was often portrayed as one who ? abused’ the patience and generosity of her suitor or sweetheart and took advantage of his kindness? (or) she was either indecisive or simply fickle-minded. The study set out to determine the “reality” or the view of life shown in the komiks, which, even if mainly for entertainment, has potential and the capability to shape public consciousness about the immediate environment. The short story-komiks titles Ricafrente picked out were the Tapusan, Wakasan, and Love Story komiks.

Being top-rated, they had the widest circulation. They also had love as the theme for most of the stories. The komiks characters showed attitudes of escapism and fatalism; most of the time, their problems or conflicts were mostly personal rather than social or environmental. Since the characters are an integral part of any story, Ricafrente also had to determine the kinds of roles attributed to each story’s main characters, their preoccupations, environment and their respective personality traits as protagonist/s or antagonist/s.

She further revealed that komiks’ content have basically carried the “same stereotyped themes and messages, the same attitudes toward life that have for a long time afflicted Philippine society” such as colonial and feudal mentality. The study’s strength lies in the exhaustive analysis of the content in terms of type of stories and themes, setting, and characters? their roles, the protagonist/antagonist profiles, physical and personality traits and their main preoccupations. Total objectivity is impossible to maintain. Thus, the research is still subject to Ricafrente’s biases.

Whereas Ricafrente’s study was concerned with all the pertinent characters in each story regardless of their gender, Berceno’s aim was to exclusively examine the female characters’ demographic and psychographic data. As the komiks has a large following and is a potent mass medium, both studies considered it important to check out its portrayal of the Filipina who, at that time, had already begun to conquer different fields of endeavor such as the mass media, government, education, the arts, sports, business, and was not merely confined to the home as a timid housewife and mother.

Gay Josefina Mauricio’s historical study of the “komiks magasins” in the Philippines sought to find out the origins of the komiks and the factors surrounding its birth. The study traced the evolution of the Filipino komiks through its American forerunners; then, descriptive analysis was applied in comparing the early komiks with the present-day ones. Among the factors used for comparison were the general theme and number of articles, price per copy, the publishing houses and the staff behind the komiks.

The “Results and Discussion” section contained the chronicle of the Filipino komiks: From Rizal’s pantomime cartoons, through the metamorphosis of Photo News to Liwayway, the rise of “Kenkoy” and his famous one-liners, i. e. , “Is beri nesesari! ” and “Natingduwing,” and the proliferation of pornography during the pre-Martial Law period, up to the present. Mauricio made quite an exhaustive research on the local komiks’ history. The thesis contained a detailed study of the earliest Filipino komiks and the contemporary ones.

It skimmed over their contents (the study had only 10 samples of contemporary komiks) and focused on the physical measurements? size, number of pages? and the komiks’ staff? publishing houses, writers and artists. She stated that the Philippines suffers from limited literature on the historical development of the komiks. Because of this, plus limited research time, the study consisted mostly of secondary data. While Mauricio’s research encompassed the whole history of the Filipino komiks, from its roots to its present form, that of Marivel Topacio is limited to comparing the contents of komiks before and after Martial Law was declared.

The study used content analysis for the common topics such as love, crime, violence and the Green Revolution (a government program implemented by then president Ferdinand E. Marcos). The study revealed the pre-Martial Law period komiks contained stories showing rampant sex, crime and violence. During Martial Law, censorship reduced the aforementioned topics; even the use of cuss words in the dialogue was banned. Stories became centered on public service articles and on government programs.

Topacio’s study concentrated wholly on comparing the themes of the stories in Filipino komiks during the late 60s and early 70s, while Mauricio’s more recent research includes the pre- and post- Martial Law declaration period in her thesis, which is about the whole history of the Filipino komiks. Furthermore, Topacio’s study stated the causes for the komiks’ high readership and the awareness that, at that time, the komiks, though underrated, was an important communication medium because of its popularity and availability. The thesis was one of the earliest studies on the local komiks.

This makes it a pioneer. Or course, this means that it is not as comprehensive as later studies. Finally, a subjective, thematic analysis of Filipino komiks was done by Enrique Angeles. His study was based on the assumption that “the komiks is of the people, by the people and for the people,” which makes it an important part of contemporary culture. The aim was to provide a deeper understanding of the komiks in order to gain insight into the Filipino character and to discern the komiks’ pluses and minuses. It used subjective content analysis for its samples.

Some of the themes discussed were: love, sexual morality, social inequality, violence, punishment, marital problems, science and fantasy. Each story was summarized, then classified and analyzed according to the given thematic categories. Angeles’ study is subjective and exploratory? this gave it more freedom of movement. However, it lacks the impact and depth of a comprehensive study that is well documented and objective. All of the studies consulted recognized the komiks’ potential as a serious part of the Filipino culture and functions as a tool to convey important messages to its readers.

Three of the studies were concerned with komiks themes; one studied the portrayal of the Filipina in the komiks; and the last recorded the local komiks’ history. Their strengths are their recognition of the komiks as a powerful influence on the majority of Filipinos, and their enterprising act of furthering the knowledge and understanding of the komiks as a cultural phenomenon and as a channel of communication. Their common weakness is that they are already dated. The years these theses were conducted range from 1969 to 1985. Naturally, they do not include the additional material that has since been part of the komiks (i.

e. , history of the komiks from 1985 to the present; if there are any, changes in the depiction of the Filipina; changes in trends of themes? what’s “in;” innovations in komiks presentation from 1985 onward). These studies were consulted because, like the current research, their main topic is the komiks. They helped in forming the background of the present study and gave strength to it in their presentation of the komiks and its possibilities as a means of entertainment, escape (“to some extent, its unconcealed not-so-true-to-life tales of woe and adventure provide the respite form the drudgery of daily toils of the reader. Hence, the ? great escapist’ tagline. “) and information.

III. Problem Statement What are the various themes of the short stories in Filipino komiks? IV. Objectives General To identify the themes that are portrayed in the short stories in Filipino komiks. Specific 1. To categorize and analyze the various themes in short stories in Filipino komiks; 2. To categorize and analyze the sub-themes of the most varied and recurring themes in short stories in Filipino komiks; 3.

To identify the types of endings of the short stories in Filipino komiks; 4. To determine the frequency of the major themes, sub-themes and types of endings. V. Study Framework A. Theoretical Level Symbolic Communication enables human beings to attract the attention of fellow humans to what concerns them, to transmit information across time and space, to express attitudes toward objects and actions, to take part in another’s motives or intentions and meanings, to share experiences, and to manipulate or mold to one’s convenience one’s view of reality.

Symbols have always been used by man in his communication with his fellowmen in the development of societies and cultures, in the implementation of society’s norms, in role allocation within the society, and in the performance of other social functions. Symbols have also been used by man to form and reinforce beliefs about himself, have emotions, and be capable of other actions attributed to human beings. B. Conceptual Level The komiks, the “star” of printed media in the Philippines, is a representation or a symbolic communication between komiks writers, novelists and illustrators, and komiks readers.

To the majority of Filipinos, the komiks symbolizes entertainment and escape. It opens the door to a world that gives temporary relief from the monotony of life. As a communication tool, the komiks has contributed to the development of Filipino society and culture and has been used as a means to express certain attitudes and emotions, share experiences and influence the readers’ view of reality. This research, therefore, sought to identify the various themes in short stories in Filipino komiks by analyzing the its content. Furthermore, how each story ends was also identified. The frequency count was used to measure the given variables.

C. Operational Level Komiks stories express certain attitudes, concepts or principles? regardless of the presentation? share certain experiences and have great potential to manipulate the readers’ way of thinking. The short story-komiks employed a vast range of themes: Romance, human nature, platonic friendship, strained parent-child relationship, father-son relationship, homosexuality, violence, arranged marriage, pregnancy and abortion, wayward son, wayward husband and father, model husband and father, reformed prostitute, temptation, marital relationship, coming-of-age, religiosity and others.

The variable others contains themes that occurred only once: Adoption, teenage marriage, peer pressure, mental retardation, boss-subordinate relationship, social disparity, amnesia, canine loyalty, model wife and mother, bigamy, ugly duckling, martial arts, rivalry between in-laws, and presentiment. The themes that recurred most frequently were subdivided according to the various presentations in the stories. Romance sub-themes are: Courtship, office romance, romantic rivalry, illicit relations, or unrequited love.

Stories showing dilemmas or situations that test a man’s (or a woman’s) moral strength or integrity are classified under the major theme human nature. Intrinsic or learned human characteristics may be shown by a komiks character being wanton, insecure/jealous, harboring a sense of failure or disappointment, ambitious, gullible, opportunistic, generous/hospitable, freeloader, wicked, vindictive, greedy, persevering, experiencing circumstances that changed the character’s initial nature or outlook from positive to negative or vice versa, and others.

Others mean themes emphasizing a character’s vanity, materialism, tyranny, sense of gratitude, attractive personality, or self-righteousness. Marital relationships may be blissful or harmonious, discordant, plagued by petty problems or involve infidelity. How a story ends is also important. It may be something that was bound to happen according to the turn of events, or something that is totally unexpected, judging from the plot. Each story’s ending was identified as happy, tragic, didactic or suspended. Happy means “All’s well that ends well.

” Things go right for the protagonist/s, estranged couples reconcile, lovers finally get married despite all odds, and other things that are definitely considered positive for the characters. Tragic means just that. There is death, or lovers drift apart, or a situation turns from bad to worse. Didactic means that the story’s purpose is to teach a moral lesson or give advice about a certain concept or event. The criminal goes to jail, an arrogant person gets his comeuppance, a pregnant woman who considered abortion decides to keep her baby.

A story with a suspended ending gives the reader the right to finish the story in his or her mind in whatever manner he or she wants. It is supposed to make the readers think. Definition of Terms The vague or ambitious variables of the study are defined and the various shades of meaning are given. Komiks ? reading material containing graphical illustrations in the vernacular. Theme ? the basis of the story; this sets the mood or pace of the story. Romance ? a story which involves courtship, a love affair or emotional commitment between a man and a woman.

Courtship ? the period of engagement or pre-marital relationship between a boy and a girl. Illicit ? an extra-marital affair. Unrequited ? the suitor (male or female) is jilted; admiration or affection that is one-sided. Office romance ? co-workers are mutually attracted are mutually attracted to or have an emotional involvement with each other. Rivalry ? there are two men who both want the same girl Marital ? the couple is, or finally gets, married to each other; the trials of married life. VI. Methods and Procedures A. Research Design Content analysis was used wherein the contents of the komiks samples were read and analyzed according to the themes.

B. Variables and Measures The variables of this study were the various themes in the short stories in the komiks. The themes identified were: Romance, human nature, platonic friendship, strained parent-child relationship, father-son relationship, marital relationship, growing up or coming-of-age, violence, homosexuality, religiosity, pregnancy and abortion, arranged marriage, wayward son, wayward husband and father, model husband and father, reformed prostitute, temptation, adoption and others.

Others comprise themes that occurred only once: Amnesia, peer pressure, bigamy, boss-subordinate relationship, canine loyalty, model wife and mother, adoption, ugly duckling, martial arts, in-laws rivalry, presentiment, mental retardation, teen marriage and social disparity. Some of the themes overlapped each other. The romance theme was further subdivided into different presentations: Courtship (pre-marital), illicit (extra-marital), office relationship, romantic rivalry and unrequited love.

The various facets of human nature were also given variables: Insecurity/jealousy, character change, ambition, sense of failure or disappointment (bitterness or despair), opportunism, perseverance, greed, gullibility, immorality, strength/integrity, wickedness, vindictiveness, generosity and others. Others represent sub-themes that occurred only once: Sense of gratitude, materialism, personality, self-righteousness, vanity, anger and tyranny. Variables for marital relationship were: Harmony/bliss, discord, petty problems, and infidelity. The ending of each story was identified as: Happy, tragic, didactic and suspended.

Simple frequency distribution was used to measure each of these variables. C. Sampling Procedure Incidental sampling was used to select the komiks title EXTRA (Special), published by Atlas Publishing, which comes out twice weekly. Likewise, with United (Super Stories), published weekly by GASI. A total of 30 issues, 10 EXTRA (Special) samples issued in July and August 1992 and 20 United (Super Stories) issued from May to September 1992, were studied. D. Sampling Frame Publisher: Atlas Publishing Company Title: EXTRA (Special) Number of issues per week: 2 Days issued: Tuesdays and Fridays.

Dates of selected issues: July 7, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 28; August 4, 11, 18 and 28 Publisher:Graphic Arts and Services, Inc Title:United (Super Stories Number of issues per week: 1 Days issued: Saturdays Dates of selected issues: May 16, 23 and 30; June 6, 13, 20 and 27; July 4, 11, 18 and 25; August 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29; September 5, 12, 19 and 26 E. Instrument The instrument for the study was the content analysis form, which contained the dates and respective titles of the publication, the titles of the short stories in each publication, the themes of each story and the type of ending of each story.

F. Researcher The researcher is a senior student at the College of Mass Communication. She is taking BA Communication and is majoring in Journalism. She has taken courses that were helpful in her research study. These courses are Communication 100, 140, 185 and 199. G. Data Analysis Data were gathered in the months of July and August 1992 of the first semester of the Academic Year 1992-1993. There was a total of 30 komiks studied during the two months of the data-gathering period.

Ten available issues of EXTRA (Special) komiks published in July and August and 20 available United (Super Stories) komiks issued from May to September were sampled. The content of the stories in the komiks were analyzed using the descriptive content analysis and the themes of each story and types of ending were identified. Quantitative analysis was also used to determine the frequency of themes and type of ending of each story identified in the komiks. VII. Limitations of the Study The study’s initial aim was to have a wider variety of komiks titles as samples.

Atlas Publishing was chosen as one of the komiks publisher from which to get samples because it is the researcher’s assumption that Atlas Publishing has one of the most widely circulated komiks titles (some of their publications are being circulated as far as Italy). However, Atlas Publishing has refused visitors or researchers access to its library. Fortunately, the editorial staff of EXTRA (Special) komiks was very accommodating. (Each komiks title has its own editorial staff. ) They did not have copies of EXTRA (Special) komiks earlier than July 1992 in their office because all the other copies are kept in Atlas Publishing library.

Thus, the komiks samples studied by the researcher were the only available copies of the EXTRA (Special) head editor. Therefore, only 10 EXTRA (Special) komiks issued in July and August 1992 were available for this study. The other komiks publisher, GASI, graciously allowed the researcher to use its library. However, the latest bound komiks the library contained were published two years ago. The publishing manager informed the researcher that all komiks published later than 1990 were still unbound and that all the unbound komiks were in the GASI “bodega (warehouse).

” The publishing manager flatly refused the researcher access to the “bodega. ” Despite the 43 komiks titles GASI publishes, the only title the staff produced from their files was the United (Super Stories) issued from May to September 1992. This is a descriptive study using content analysis. Its purpose is merely to analyze the short stories in the komiks magazines and to categorize the theme in each story. And with only 30 samples of two komiks titles from two different komiks publishers, it has a very limited scope.

Although the study aimed to be as objective as possible, the researcher is aware that the study is, to some degree, still influenced by the researcher’s own biases. VIII. Summary Short stories in komiks used a wide array of themes. The most recurring were themes of romance and human nature. There are many sub-themes to these major themes. The sub-themes under romance described the type of relationship portrayed in the story: Are they a courting couple? Are they involved in a clandestine liaison? Are they colleagues? Is there some form of romantic competition or rivalry? Is it a case of unrequited love?

These questions were the basis of the romance category. For the sub-themes that fall under the major theme human nature, given were personality characteristics or emotions illustrated in the stories such as anger, vindictiveness, perseverance, insecurity, generosity, vanity, integrity and so on and so forth. Another theme used often was marital relationships. Each story was categorized based on the presence of certain elements in marriage such as harmony, discord, infidelity and petty problems such as slight disagreements or certain types of “problem” behavior displayed by one or both spouses.

How a story ends also varied. Endings were positive, negative, “unfinished” or suspended, subtly instructive or bluntly moralizing. Contents of the short stories in the komiks revealed the influence of negative characteristics attributed to the Filipino culture, such as double standard, machismo, fatalism and social hypocrisy. Furthermore, most stories could not seem to do without implicit or explicit sex. At least one frame in a story inevitably contained an erotic illustration of a couple in bed. Scenes in bed or anywhere inside the house generally showed the woman in a skimpy outfit.

Women are still relegated to the traditional role of a housewife and mother. Furthermore, they were shown to have a remarkable dependency on men on social, economic and emotional levels. They just could not seem to function or go through life without men. Men are still presented as breadwinners of the family. They were shown as being senior to women at home and at work. In most of the stories, they were the ones who made the major decisions in their relationships. Though the stories may have been inspired by what goes on in real life, their presentation left a lot to be desired.

They were generally one-sided, sometimes exaggerated, issues were oversimplified and most of the stories were sheer fantasy. IX. Conclusion The themes used in the short story-komiks were romance, human nature, platonic friendship, strained parent-child relationship, father-son relationship, marital relationship, growing up or coming-of-age, violence, homosexuality, religiosity, pregnancy and abortion, arranged marriage, wayward son, wayward husband and father, model husband and father, reformed prostitute, temptation, and others.

The sub-themes for some major themes were insecurity/jealousy, character change, ambition, sense of failure or disappointment (bitterness or despair), opportunism, perseverance, greed, gullibility, immorality, strength/integrity, wickedness, vindictiveness, generosity and wickedness for the major theme human nature; under the major theme romance, falls courtship, illicit, office relationship, romantic rivalry and unrequited love; the marital relationship theme contains the sub-themes harmony/bliss, discord, petty problems and infidelity. The presentation of life in the short story-komiks is simplistic; some stories were portrayed unrealistically and some were presented in a highly idealistic manner. X. Implications and Recommendations.

The Filipino komiks is basically for entertainment. It is merely a symbol of diversion? a pastime, nothing more? rather than a tool through which may be channeled relevant information. Komiks stories may have used themes from every aspect of life, but the representation of social and cultural attitudes and concepts, individual beliefs and expressions of emotions is less than authentic. The findings cited in the studies consulted in the Review of Related Literature section, though dated, are still true today. The attitudes of the komiks characters and the mood of the stories themselves are still fatalistic and escapist.

They are still stereotyped; men are portrayed as superior to women mentally, physically, socially and financially, while women are depicted as dependent on men. The focus is on the individual? his emotions, thoughts, and experiences. There are no stories that actually deal with issues of society other than to emphasize social hierarchies or class distinction as background for a story. Nor are there any stories about the importance of the environment. Komiks merely present stories about individual problems without offering any feasible solutions for it. This is a pity.

Such a powerful and influential means of communication is undermined by impractical and downright useless information. Presented in the komiks are common concepts that are merely sensationalized in order to make up for lack of depth and substance. There is no real creativity. The Filipino komiks, as one of the leading and most accessible means of communication, should expand its perimeter to gain deeper perspective and intellectual challenge. Probing further into other areas of the Filipino komiks such as serialized novels or characterization may lead to modifications that might improve overall content.

This way, the komiks reading public may truly be enlightened. BIBLIOGRAPHY Angeles, Enrique. “A Subjective, Thematic Analysis of Pilipino Komiks. ” Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Institute of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, 1969. Berceno, Marila A. “The Filipina as Projected by the Local Komiks. ” Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Institute of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, 1983. Bondoc, Jarious Y. “Komiks: Masa Reading. ” Observer. September 1982. Lasswell, Harold. The Process and Effects of Mass Communi.