"DARNA IS NOT A WONDER WOMAN CLONE....STUDIOS
NEED TO STOP MAKING HER ONE"
Darna is NOT a 'Rip-off" of Wonder Woman
A short Retrospective of an often misunderstood character!
By Raffy Arcega
of both the Wonderverse & Mars Ravelo's DARNA fansites
One thing is certain. DARNA always stands
out whenever she is portrayed
the way she ought to be, according to her original concept as was
envisioned by her legendary creator, Mars Ravelo. Now I do understand
that Darna has had many incarnations through the decades and every
generation of fans have their own vision of what Darna is all about.
Yes, she is a superhuman with the powers of super-strength, speed and
flight but she also has her own unique qualities all her own.
And no, despite what people saw in those 2 movies from the 1990's,
DARNA IS NOT A "WONDER WOMAN COPYCAT." Although I looked forward to
seeing those movies at first, I always ended up being disappointed
because those films attempted to "reinvent" Darna in Wonder Woman's
image. Those 2 movies both depicted Darna using her "bracelets to
deflect bullets: when she was fired upon by thugs. They also tweaked
her costume to make her look more like Wonder Woman (by taking away her
helmet and replacing it with a "Wonder Woman style" headband/tiara that
had her golden winged medallion in the middle) rather than remain true
to her original look. These unnecessary changes did not in any way make
these 2 movies any better because aside from being not well
conceptualized, they also lacked the soul that the earlier Darna movies
had: Darna's own identity. The two 90's films seemed more concerned
with special effects and flash rather than great plot and dialogue.
But these aren't the only things that fed the misconcepcion that Darna
is a "Wonder Woman Copy-Cat" but the details of her costume design. So
in the interest of educating the general public, here's the history of
how Darna's costume evolved through the ages:
Darna is a superheroine created by Mars Ravelo under a different name
in 1947. She was originally called "VARGA" and was published by
Bulaklak Komiks. The original Varga is not to be confused with the
other "Mars Ravelo's VARGA" that was recently featured as a tv series
on ABS-CBN. The Original Varga pretty much looked like DARNA except
that her original costume featured long sleeves and fitted shirt that
featured the SUN and 3 STARS from the Philippine flag. She wore short
shorts and a simple belt with a loin cloth in the middle (just like
Darna) before letting go of the long sleeve form fitting shirt with the
3 stars and sun and replaced it with the familiar bra while only
retaining 2 of the 3 stars. It was the story of a mortal girl named
Narda, her brother Ding and their grandmother, LOLA ASAY who lived "sa
bayan ng Masambong" (in the town of Masambong) when a falling star
revealed itself to be a magic amulet that turns the little girl named
Narda into the Superheroine named....VARGA! (Sound familiar?)
But there was a falling out between Mars Ravelo and Bulaklak Komiks so
he took his creation to Ace Publications' "Pilipino Komiks" where the
series was rebooted with a new continuity and the character was renamed
"DARNA". Not after the legendary Adarna bird of Philippine folklore but
rather an anagram of her mortal name- "NARDA". (Remember that in the
earlier Varga series, her mortal name was already NARDA even back then.)
The 2 Stars on Darna's bra are NOT copied from Wonder Woman's costume
but are based on the yellow stars that appear on the Philippine Flag.
It was under the name "DARNA" that this Ravelo creation would become
famous for. In 1951, before the Komiks serial was even finished, Royal
Publications under Fernando Poe Sr. would produce the legendary first
DARNA movie starring the late film actress of Philippine Cinema's
golden age, MS. ROSA DEL ROSARIO who was the Original actress to play
DARNA.
Because of the character's immense popularity, several other studios
would license the character and produce more Darna movies throughout
the next several decades. After Rosa Del Rosario, Vilma Santos (who
first played Darna in 1973's "Lipad, Darna, Lipad") would be the most
well known and the most in demand to play the character. She starred in
a total of 4 Darna movies. Her 4th and final one being in 1980.
For years after that, no more Darna movies were produced. It was not
till 1991 when another one would be produced but it starred a
relatively new actress in the role that "reinvented" Darna into a
"Bullets & Bracelets" deflecting character that no longer wore the
iconic Darna helmet and instead wore a headband. A follow up movie
would sooin follow 3 years later that tweaked Darna's look even further
where she still wore the "Wonder Woman-type headband" only this time
lost the winged medallion altogether in favor of "golden leaves". Yet
they again made her deflect bullets with her bracelets. So as we can
see, every recognizable Darna elememt was slowly stripped away and
replaced with accessories that mimicked Wonder Woman. And in addition,
they even gave her Kryptoinian-style heat vision. Now granted, many
superheroes fly and possess superhuman strength, but heat vision and
deflecting bullets using bracelets are iconic Superman & Wonder
Woman elements that are SPECIFIC to these 2 characters. They are not
meant to be taken and grafted onto DARNA and representing her to the
world as "the Philippine copy of Wonder Woman". Labeling her as such
and presenting her to look like a copy does a disservice to the
greatness of this character.
And from then on, Darna's prestige as a character was put into question
because of the damage inflicted upon her image by misguided flimmakers
who valued mimicry to originality. It's one thing to be inspired by
Superman and Captain Marvel. But it is a completely different thing
altogether to
cannibalize elements from foreign characters and graft these elements
onto an existing one with a rich history and established lore as Darna.
Darna is about a poor young Filipina girl with a pure heart whose
values and virtues made her worthy of weilding the magical powers of a
celestial "agimat" that allowed her to channel the superhuaman being
"DARNA of the Planet Marte." Philippine folklore has a tradition of
presenting humble, pure hearted mortals that are awarded amulets that
allow them to (in a way) transform their virtues into superpowers that
allow them to battle supernatural evil.
Darna is a character that fused together the concept of the superhero
with the traditions of Philippine folklore that give us a unique type
of hero in Darna. The yellow/gold stars come from our Philippine flag,
the loincloth (bahag) is a visual inspiration from native costuming,
and the agimat concept come from our very own traditions.
So it is my hope that this new Darna series will treat this beloved
Mars Ravelo character with the respect she deserves and imbue her with
qualities that further enhance her uniqueness and not with gimmicks and
contrived cliches stolen from other characters. DARNA is worthy of
respect and has a very special place in Philippine Pop culture. Not as
a "just a novelty" or a character misconstrued to look like a"Wonder
Woman Copy-Cat" but as her TRUE self- Asia's First Superheroine: Mars
Ravelo's DARNA.
"DARNA WEBSITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION"
Darna
Website has been undergoing some website
maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to
unveiling some new stuff in the near future! Thanks for your patience.
Darna fans this is where we discuss the latest installment of Asia's first Superheroine Darna
The Official Darna logo 09. Courtesy of Gina Ravelo Marasigan
DARNA is a cultural icon born at a time when the Philippines was struggling to come out of the devastation of World
War II. She served as a salve to a country looking for champion.
The images, likenesses, logos, and characters that make up Mars Ravelo's DARNA™,
CAPTAIN BARBELL™, LASTIKMAN™, DYESEBEL™, FLASH-BOMBA™, TINY TONY™, & VARGA™ are
owned and managed by MARS RAVELO MARVELOUS CHARACTERS, INC.
Licensing of Mars Ravelo's DARNA™ for Live Action Movies
is available as of today, February 05 2008.
Merchandising rights are available on a limited basis, subject to superceding contracts.
If you're interested in aquiring more details concerning purchasing the licensing of the LIVE ACTION
MOVIE rights for Mars Ravelo's DARNA™, please contact:
Mr. Zaldy Ravelo of MARS RAVELO MARVELOUS CHARACTERS, INC.
