EVER AFTER

(FROM A WEEKEND NOTE, THE EDITOR'S LETTER IN STYLE WEEKEND, A SPECIAL SECTION OF MANILA BULLETIN THAT COMES OUT EVERY FRIDAY, 7 SEPT., 2007)


I’ve never really paid attention to Angel Locsin until the recent brouhaha on her transfer from GMA to ABS-CBN. I didn’t even realize until our one-on-one with her just four days after her return from London that Darna was her ticket to superstardom. It made her shine and soar. I hate to give away my age, but to me Darna remains to be Vilma Santos.

BLURB
Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings, forever… —Peter Pan

During our shoot, when Angel, jetlagged and besieged by controversies, had every excuse to let the “diva’ out in her, the local tinsel town’s damsel in distress seemed as good-natured and sweet as Snow White. At this point, no amount of bad press will distract me from the fact that, indeed, here is a gem worth fighting for. My apologies to GMA-7, but you do have some reason to cry over spilled milk. At least, in my limited experience of her work ethics, this one here is a professional.
I know that the Angel controversy has somewhat died down, thanks to another inane battle on the so-called Network War, but, from the outset, I never understood what the fuss was all about. Emotions aside, a contract expired, which means whoever was bound by that contract had the option to renew or to seek better opportunities elsewhere. It’s as simple as that. Or is it?
At any rate, our time with Angel, a scoop for our other magazine, Sense&Style, was fun because it brought us back to our childhood fantasies. Set after set, the actress was transformed into our favorite fairy-tale protagonists, from Little Red Riding Hood in killer boots to Rapunzel in stilettos. Each set turned us back to unforgotten times, when we had more faith in the world and we all believed in happy endings. (See all the images, along with Angel’s heartbreaking yet hopeful story, in Sense&Style’s September issue, our big, collectible beauty edition, “Beauty and the Best.”)
I suppose our fancy pictorial also helped Angel set aside for a while the troubles of her controversial career move, although any woman with her sensibilities could not have escaped the bittersweet emotions of moving from one place to the next, no matter how promising the next place might be. That’s the curse of maturity, where life is no longer as plain as black and white. Whereas in childhood, friends are friends, as easily identifiable as the Seven Dwarves or Glinda, the Good Witch, and enemies are enemies, not quite as challenging to recognize despite their many guises as Cinderella’s wicked stepmother and the Big, Bad Wolf; in adulthood, it’s not that simple. As a mature adult, you can’t help thinking that maybe the wolf is just hungry. As the Snake in the Grass in The Little Prince, a story Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote for the grownups, so succinctly pointed out, “It is just in my nature to sting.”
I wish it were not in the nature of people to hurt each other for any reason and I do wish Angel Locsin all the best in this new phase of her journey. I have yet to watch any of her movies, but she seems to love what she is doing and she seems willing to break a leg (and her heart) for it. In my book, loving what you do enough to beat all the odds is perhaps all you need to make it in this world. After all, I’m an adult, but I still believe in happy endings.

A
post me at aapatawaran@yahoo.com