关于那种能将身体劈成两半的生物，以及化作婴儿形态的那种生物的故事，都是许多菲律宾儿童成长过程中耳熟能详的民间传说。
Stories of the , a creature said to split its body in two, and the , which takes the form of an infant, are part of the folklore many children grow up hearing in the Philippines.
如今，它们成为了梦工厂动画电影《》（暂译）中的神话生物角色，该片于周三在菲律宾上映，两天后在美国上映。
Now, they are among the mythological creatures featured in DreamWorks’ animated film , which opened in the Philippines on Wednesday and two days later in the United States.
这部电影被誉为首部展现菲律宾文化和神话的好莱坞大片，为侨民提供了难得的文化认同感，同时也反映出美国影视业对亚洲观众日益增长的兴趣。
The film, described as the first major Hollywood production to showcase Filipino culture and mythology, offers a rare point of recognition for the diaspora while reflecting the US industry’s growing interest in Asian audiences.
“我们最先在影院看到了预告片，我万万没想到能看到一部包含我上世纪90年代成长过程中熟悉的菲律宾故事的电影，”34岁的Berlynn Tuazon-Bradshaw说道。
“We first saw the trailers in the cinema and I wasn’t expecting to see a movie with Filipino stories that I grew up with back in the 1990s,” Berlynn Tuazon-Bradshaw, 34, said.
Bradshaw于2013年大学毕业后移居美国，如今在加利福尼亚和菲律宾两地奔波。
Bradshaw moved to the US after university in 2013 and now divides her time between California and the Philippines.
她5岁的女儿是菲裔和美裔混血。“我认为这也能帮助她保持与菲律宾根脉的联系，”她说。
Her daughter, five, is half-Filipino, half-American. “I think this will help her stay in touch with her Filipino roots as well,” she said.
根据2023年美国人口普查局数据，约有460万美国人自认是菲律宾裔。菲律宾裔美国人是美国第三大亚裔群体，仅次于印度裔和中国裔。
About 4.6 million people in the US identify as Filipino, according to the 2023 US Census Bureau. Filipino-Americans are the third-largest Asian-origin population living in the US, behind India and China.
该片由菲裔美国人Januel Mercado和Joel Crawford共同执导，演员阵容包括格莱美奖得主H.E.R.、菲律宾女演员Liza Soberano和托尼奖得主Lea Salonga等菲律宾艺人。
The film is co-directed by Filipino-American Januel Mercado and Joel Crawford and features a cast of Filipino entertainers including Grammy-winning artist H.E.R., Filipino actress Liza Soberano and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga.
“好莱坞一直都有菲律宾人，为我们所有人铺平了道路，”Soberano告诉路透社。“但直到现在，聚光灯才真正照在了菲律宾人和菲律宾文化上。”
“There have always been Filipinos in Hollywood, kind of paving the way for all of us,” Soberano told Reuters. “But it’s only now that there’s really been a spotlight shown on Filipinos and Filipino culture.”Historically, Filipino or Filipino-American culture has rarely made it into the “mainstream”, according to James Zarsadiaz, an associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco who researches Asian-American history.
据研究亚裔美国历史的旧金山大学历史学副教授James Zarsadiaz表示，历史上，菲律宾或菲裔美国文化鲜少能进入“主流”视野。
“[They] have typically been relegated to independent or other digital spaces with niche audiences,” he said, adding that many of the films that were successful in the US “largely focused on Asian experiences in Asia” and featured East or South Asian stories.
“他们通常被局限在独立或其他面向小众受众的数字空间里，”他说，并补充道，在美国取得成功的许多电影“主要聚焦于亚洲的亚洲经历”，并以东亚或南亚故事为主。
For Filipinos abroad, it is not just a question of Hollywood recognising their culture, but also whether it can help younger generations stay in touch with their heritage.
对于海外菲律宾人来说，这不仅关乎好莱坞是否认可他们的文化，还关乎能否帮助年轻一代与传统保持联系。
Pia Lingasin was 16 when she and her family moved from Manila to Los Angeles. Now 38, the accountant wants her two children, who are full Filipinos, to understand what it means to be Filipino.
Pia Lingasin 16 岁时随家人从马尼拉搬到洛杉矶。现年 38 岁的会计师希望她的两个孩子——他们是纯正的菲律宾人——能理解身为菲律宾人的意义。
“I want my kids to understand how rich our culture is even though we are far away from it geographically. I want them to appreciate their roots and learn to be proud to be Filipino,” she said.
“我希望孩子们明白，即使我们在地理上远离家乡，我们的文化依然博大精深。我希望他们珍视自己的根脉，并学会为身为菲律宾人而自豪，”她说。
Seeing their culture reflected on screen carries particular weight for Filipinos, whose identities and experiences have been shaped by their country’s colonial history, according to media observers.
据媒体观察人士称，在银幕上看到自己的文化倒影对菲律宾人有着特殊分量，因为他们的身份和经历深受本国殖民历史的塑造。
American rule had formed institutions, language and world views in the Philippines but Filipino-American experiences were often poorly represented in the US, said Daphne-Tatiana Canlas, a broadcast communication associate professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman’s College of Media and Communication.
菲律宾大学迪利曼分校大众传播学院广播传播副教授 Daphne-Tatiana Canlas 表示，美国统治塑造了菲律宾的制度、语言和世界观，但菲裔美国人的经历在美国往往得不到良好呈现。
The desire for representation “reads as a symptom of the longer histories of colonialism”, according to Leland Tabares, an assistant professor of race, ethnicity and migration studies at Colorado College.
科罗拉多学院种族、族裔与移民研究助理教授 Leland Tabares 表示，这种对呈现的渴望“读来像是漫长殖民历史的一种症状”。
“Maybe the broader American base doesn’t really know how to make sense of them within the Asian-American cultural imaginary,” he said.
“也许更广泛的美国群体并不真正知道如何在亚裔美国人的文化想像中理解他们，”他说。
Recognition was significant not only for Filipinos in the US but also for those in the Philippines, where migration and separation had shaped many families, Canlas said.
Canlas 表示，这种认可不仅对美国的菲律宾人意义重大，对菲律宾国内的菲律宾人也同样重要，因为移民和分离塑造了那里的许多家庭。
“Almost every Filipino has a story about migration, separation, forgetting and the work of remembering,” she said. Watching their loved ones’ struggles appearing on screen assured them that “they are seen”.
“几乎每个菲律宾人都有关于移民、分离、遗忘以及记忆重构的故事，”她说。看着亲人的挣扎呈现在银幕上，让他们确信“他们被看见了”。
Cultural recognition is only part of the explanation for Hollywood’s growing interest in Filipino stories. The potential size and purchasing power of Asian audiences are also factors, according to the observers.
文化认同只是好莱坞对菲律宾故事兴趣日增的部分原因。据观察人士称，亚裔观众的潜在规模和购买力也是因素之一。
“As the third-largest cultural group of Asian heritage in the US, Filipinos and Filipino-Americans as an audience cannot be ignored any more,” Canlas said.
“作为美国第三大亚裔文化群体，菲律宾人和菲裔美国人作为观众群体已无法再被忽视，”坎拉斯说。
Factors such as “the internet, outsourced labour, lowering of trade barriers and the pivot to Asian markets by transnational companies”, had made studios such as DreamWorks pay more attention to the region, said Cherish Aileen Brillon, an associate professor of broadcast communication at UP Diliman CMC.
菲律宾大学迪利曼分校大众传播学院副教授谢丽尔·艾琳·布里隆表示，“互联网、外包劳动力、贸易壁垒降低以及跨国公司向亚洲市场转型”等因素，让梦工厂等制片公司更加关注该地区。她表示，亚裔观众也越来越多地接触到全球流行文化。
Asian audiences were also increasingly exposed to global popular culture, she said.
塔巴雷斯将这部电影与Netflix大热剧集《鱿鱼游戏》相提并论，后者将韩国文化和一个韩裔美国人的故事呈现在全球观众面前。
Tabares compared the film to Netflix’s hugely successful , which put South Korean culture and a Korean-American story before a global audience.
“《鱿鱼游戏》及其流行为其他侨居亚裔族群争取代表性话语权打开了空间，”他说。
“ and its popularity opened up space for other kinds of diasporic Asian ethnic communities to gain representational traction,” he said.
“驱动这一切的是消费购买力。还有多元化与公平性问题——好莱坞展现多元与公平显得很体面，尤其是在当下高度政治化的时代。”但坎拉斯表示，真正的代表性应超越文化符号或孤立的轶事。
“What drives it is consumer spending power. And there are issues around diversity and equity – it looks good for Hollywood to be diverse and equitable, especially in these highly politicised times.”But true representation should go beyond cultural symbols or isolated anecdotes, Canlas said.
菲律宾观众想要了解“导致现状的复杂事件网络”，以及这些历史如何影响了他们的社群。
Filipino audiences wanted to understand “the complex web of events that led to current conditions” and how those histories had affected their communities.
“希望电影和其他媒体如《鱿鱼游戏》同样意识到自己拥有维系这些对话的力量，从而可能激励其他东南亚创作者讲述他们自己的‘被遗忘’故事。”
“The hope is that films and other media like are similarly cognisant of the power they have to sustain these conversations, possibly inspiring other Southeast Asian creators to tell their own ‘forgotten’ stories.”