Enrique Ayuso

108305051
Austronesian Studies
Midterm Paper

1.) 1. Discuss some (min. three) of the essential transcultural values that are touched
upon in Sir George Grey’s Introduction to Polynesian Mythology. (ca. 300 words)

One transcultural value that was touched upon by in the legend of Maui has to do with
leadership. One problem that was in the story had to do with the days going by quick.
The sun would rise and quickly go down. Maui and his brothers were not satisfied
with this and wanted to change it so that people can have longer days. Through their
leadership they did just this and devised a plan to capture the sun. In the end they
were successful and Maui shows us the importance in taking a stance when you want
to change something and to not just be satisfied in accepting the ways things are. The
other value that is in the story of Maui has to do with family. From the beginning,
Maui was sort of an outsider to his family but overtime his brothers and mother
accepted him. His eldest brother was the first to accept him as he believed peace and
mana would be brought to them. Over the course of the story the family did have
some troubles with Maui but one can interpret this with ones own family. This acts as
a reminder for readers that they may also be going through ups and downs with their
families but it is important to remember them and that they play an important role in
our lives. Finally, The legend of Maui teaches us to be selfless or to care about other
people. Through out his voyages he does stuff for the benefit of the people, like
slowing down the sun , defeating a manta ray, and even discovering New Zealand.
Despite possessing super capabilities his selflessness enables him to connect with
people and teaches us it is important to help people any way we can to make the
world a better place.

2.) What do epic stories generally have in common? Give two examples of epical
stories that continue to have an impact on the identity, ways of thinking and
values of the communities to which they respectively belong; show how this is
manifested (ca. 300 words).

Epic stories have certain ingredients that they have in common like unusual birth,
complications, quest, combat and victorious endings. Moreover, they are normally
based a historical or quasi historical characters or events. They are also generally set
in a distant time or sometime in the past. Generally, it also has heroes. An example of
an epic story has to do with the New Testament in the bible. It contains various
ingredients of an epic like unusual birth, quest, combat etc.. it also tells the tails of
Jesus Christ and his apostles. For many believers and worshipers of Jesus Christ,
many of his teachings are still followed up to today and values like forgiveness, and
compassion are still shared. Another example of an epic story would be the fictional
character of Superman. Superman also had an unusual birth, faced many battles and
quests. Superman teaches us to be bigger than you are and not be afraid to be more.
This can be seen in American society as it is a high competitive country with people
always working way more than they need to , and always thinking creatively about a
solution rather than doing something normally. Americans are also always trying to
push themselves above the limit just like superman does in his quests against his
enemies.

3.) There are many legends about rice in Indonesia and the Philippines. While they
tend to be very different from one another, they do have some elements in
common. Please discuss (ca. 300 words)

Rice was important to the livelihoods of both Indonesians and Philippines. It

expanded to almost all other areas of lives for both cultures. For Indonesians rice
wasn’t only food it was an integral part of their tradition , religion and law. The same
can be said about the people of Philippines. Rice was also a part of their spiritual or
religious life and traditions. Rice was also seen by both cultures as linking the people
to the divine and as such rice had to be prepared in special ways. For example, in the
Philippines, suman ways and Kalamay ways were used to prepare the rice and in
Indonesia it was also specially prepared using ways like as balls and as pyramids.
Rice was prepared in special ways because it was a distinct food. Moreover, in the
Philippines rice was seen as the embodiment of God’s grace and many people
respected it, if you were to step on it for example that would be a huge sign of
disrespect. Similarly, in Indonesia rice is looked upon as a miraculous gift from the
Gods and thus must be respected. We can see that even the divine was present in the
rice for both of these cultures. Both countries also have their own tales or stories of
the divine and how rice came to be. In addition, Rice was present in certain important
festivities like for a marriage. This was another similarity of rice for both the
countries. Philippines and Indonesia. Regardless of what they thought of each other, it
was certain that they both looked upon rice and respected it as something not only as
food.
4.) Explain the following notions and illustrate them, using for each some examples
that were not discussed during the course (ca. 300 words). ‘intertextuality’
‘reception (theory)’ ‘product placement’ ‘frame story

Intertextuality- is a way of interpreting or finding out information about texts in a

countless amount of ways. It looks at the book not a sole thing but as possibly being
connected to other texts. It provides new ways of studying a literature book. Some
examples include modern poetry which can be linked to some poetry already created
in the past, or also many contemporary novels which are linked to old books like the
bible or ancient Egyptian scripts.

Reception (theory) – this concept has to do with how readers respond to a piece of
literature. Considering that people read literature with preconceived notions and
knowledge, reception theory focuses more on how certain historical changes affect the
publics view about the literature. An example would be the bible and how
interpretations of it change over generations, or books about homosexuals and how
people’s mentality slowly changed to a more accepting world.

Product placement- product placement is a marketing tactic used to incorporate

brands into a movie or books or other form of literary style. In return for this product
placement a form of compensation is given in the form of money or some other
important consideration. Movies in the 90’s had all sorts of product placements from
fuel companies to the logos of baseball teams and more. Product placement in movies
can even be seen in recent times some examples like Doritos or snickers advertising
their product through different movies, shows and writings etc…

Frame Story – A literary technique used where one story surrounds another story.
These are usually shown at the beginning or the end of a literary piece. They can be
done with movies , books, television shows etc… They also give important
information about the main story. Some examples include The titanic where rose
transports the audience into 1912 when the titanic was just being finished built to give
essence to her main story. The novel Frankenstein is also another example, the main
story is about Frankenstein but within the story, other small stories are given about
Frankenstein’s family which help to give essence to the main story.