An Archetypal Analysis:

Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia

Ms. Eloisa Pitil

Instructor

Alyssa Joy Balbiran

Researcher
 An Archetypal Analysis: Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia
The myth of the hero is one of the most prevailing myths around the world. We can read it in
the classical mythology of ancient Greece and Rome, legends of the Middle Ages, in the Far
East, and among contemporary primitive tribes. We also find it in our MMFF award winning
film: Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia. Hero myths throughout the world are significantly diverse
but share some structural similitude. The essential function of the hero is to symbolize the
development of the individual's awareness and acceptance of his own strengths and
weaknesses, in a manner that will equip him for the arduous tasks with which life confronts
him.

Legendary heroes belong to a

princely class existing in an
early stage of the history of a
people, and they transcend
ordinary men in skill, strength,
and courage. They are usually
born to their role. War or
dangerous adventure is the
hero’s normal occupation. He
is surrounded by noble peers,
and is magnanimous to his
followers and ruthless to his
enemies. They are the first
human beings in literature,
and the novelty of their
experiences has a perennial
freshness.

Understanding the concepts

of archetype theory is
significant to the critics who uses symbols and myths in examining a hero archetype in criticizing
the story Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalia. The thesis argues that Buboy, the main character in
the film is a hero archetype and aims to discover the patterns introduced in the text. Carl
Jung’s theory explains the processes or events that occur in the character to complete the task
in his life called situational archetypes. Some concept that are present to Jung’s argument is to
search, task, journey, initiation, rituals, the fall, death and rebirth, the battle between good and
evil and the unhealable wound. The main character, Buboy, experienced struggles from his
bully classmates at the beginning of the story which depicts the life of a hero. Hero struggled to
achieve peace on earth. In the story, Buboy was described as the hero because he is willing to
take any risk and danger just to save his grandparents. The story also shows the quest wherein
it undergoes puzzle to process the searching for a hero. The character was also given task to
achieve his goals. The journey when a hero must travel long distances and the initiation is a
process towards maturity and awareness process in the problem are all present in the story. All
situational archetype patters exist in the story of: Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia.

One of the fiction stories about hero is Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia. The film is an uplifting
story of a person who overcome fear and succeed over his adversity. The plot follows the
journey of Buboy who is out to save his abducted grandparents in the land of Elementalia, a
magical world that houses many of the mythical creatures of the Philippines. This locally
produced animated film aims to reintroduce the other side of mythical creatures like
the tikbalang, kapre, manananggal, and aswang by giving a new dimension to these typically
reviled creatures. This features the Philippine mythology wherein creatures are expansive,
consisting of a mix of beautiful and powerful deities, bloodthirsty creatures, and downright
inexplicable oddities.

The Journey and Quest: At the beginning of the film, the hero begins his journey with a race
between him and his classmates. He was near the finish line when one of his opponents put
him down causing him to fail the race. He was also bullied by the three boys outside the school
where he needs to follow the command given by them. He was asked to meet them at the
forest to do something. Because of Buboy’s fear against his classmates, he did everything to
make it at the forest. That was the reason why Buboy got into danger when the three boys ask
him to burn a fire near the balete tree which trigger the war between the evil and good. That’s
how the concept of tragedy enters the movie. Initiation takes place when the tree became a
monstrous creature and takes his grandpa and grandma. He was now aware of forces larger
than him when he prayed and wished that his grandparents are well and alive. The journey
begins when he had to go with his friend, Anna, who wants to help him and headed to
Elementalia to ask help from Lolo Nano. Buboy was now assigned to get the magical ingredients
that can be found in the Elementalia. Lolo Nanong gave him a weapon for him to use as
protection. The temptation was also presented in the story. During their travel, He was
deceived and tempted by a devil figure that he called, “Bruha”. The creature was telling Buboy
he can finally reconcile with his grandparents if he will come with her but the lonely hero was
firm. He was also helped by his friends. Buboy had finally reached his goals when he was able to
get his grandparents in Elementalia. However, before leaving the place, he faced a war between
the good and the evil. He was accompanied by a tikbalang and manananggal. He finally faced
his fears when he decided to go back and fight the monstrous tree. The quote that his grandpa
said at the earlier part of the story was justified, “We cannot always fly and leave our problems
behind, we need to have courage to confront our fears. At the latter part of the movie, Buboy
got the strength to win the race against his bully classmates. He also saves a boy who was also
bullied using the weapon given to him by Lolo Nano. After his journey, Buboy is not the same
person he used to be before and transformed by the quest he encountered. The adventure is
not only a return but also a resurrection. They were back into mortal’s world and Buboy also
experienced transfiguration of his personality. From being weak, He can now stand against the
evil and can even save other people from the situation he once had.

Character Symbols: The Bully are the person who intimidates others and those are Buboy’s
classmates. The Creature of Nightmare is the monstrous trees together with the aswangs. The
Devil Figure is the Bruha who tried to deceive Buboy. The main character is a hero at the same
time a dreamer. He fulfills his task to save his grandparents and also, he is a dreamer because
he has a dream of having wings. The friendly beasts are represented by Anna and the tikbalang
who always help and guide Buboy. The wizard who has special powers was Lolo Nano who can
make magical potions as the antidote. Other symbols visual in the story was the airplane wings,
wherein the main character wants to have wings which symbolizes freedom and strength. His
Lolo also gave wisdom about this. Another is the slingshot; it was a made with simple materials
but can be used as protection. It can be comparable to life journey of Buboy who was once a
simple boy with weak personality but was molded by the struggles and became a person with a
powerful characteristic.

In conclusion to the research, the story contains a lot of meaning and wisdom despite of being a
comedy animated film. The research on the Dayo, Sa Mundo ng Elementalia film by Archetype
theory gives us main motive overview of a hero. This was evident in the character and
situational archetype present in the story. All of them can be embodied to archetypes that
correlates to the motif. The researcher had mentioned the relevant notions used in the analysis
such as quest, journey, initiation, and resurrection. It also used symbols to interpret profound
meaning of each characters. Through this, we understand that Buboy, despite of being a
human, can be a hero not because of superpower but because of his courage to fight for the
right.