I grew up with two Darnas to look up to — Nanette Medved’s and Anjanette Abayari’s. We didn’t have cable before. I would ask my Ninong to tell me more about Vilma Santos’ Darna, just so I could complete the Darna collection in my head.
That’s why when I saw the teaser of Direk Erik Matti’s Darna 2016 while watching Honor Thy Father, I couldn’t contain my excitement. My childhood memories and fantasies were awakened. How would this year’s Darna be like?
I wasn’t too convinced on her costume before. Aside from the fact that she was being hyper-sexualized, I always thought it would be quite uncomfortable to fight bad guys in a strapless bra-top and heeled boots. So in my head, I had always imagined Darna to have more cover. And maybe she can also be the type of woman who prefers sneakers.
I also think Narda shouldn’t lose her powers of discernment–especially the moral choices of a flawed human being– whenever she turns into Darna. It would be interesting to see simple a Filipina who remains who she is when empowered by supernatural forces. That would be a good study on the idea of power.
Of course, I also thought of how Cameron Stewart redesigned Batgirl and Barbara Gordon. He made her techie skills more relevant. Maybe Darna could also be more tech-savvy–maybe even collaborating with local hacktivists.
Can’t wait to find out who will play Narda/Darna. And of course, I wanna see what’s the new vision for her mythology.