Healing waters: Maritime space in Brillante Mendoza’s Thy Womb

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As she navigates the sea comm
unity in Tawi-Tawi,
As a midwife, Shaleha is somewhat of a healer. In true Nora Aunor fashion, the character of
Shaleha is made martyr, sacrificing her relationship with her husband for the sake of
However, while she heals, she cannot escape her own barrenness. One may think of this

Visually,
Close reading of key scenes:

Main framework:
 Spatial, border thinking (striation, smoothness)
 Ecofeminism in line with Deleuze and Guattari
Main text/key points:
 Literary
o Shaleha’s spaces
 Domestic
 Boat
 Spaces of tradition/religion?
o Shaleha as wounded healer
 Infertility
 Midwife

 Visual elements
o Ask Ma’am – should I pay attention to the form?
 Well tbh oo siyempre kasi space + movie
i
1. Shaleha’s infertility
a. Jdhjhdfs
2. Navigating the maritime space
a.
b. To heal is to return to the familiar.
i. Cyclical movie format – begins and ends in a birth scene
 ii. Spatially, this means a process of deterritorialization, territorialization,
and reterritorialization
iii.
c. Process of striation
i. Striation defined by Deleuze and Guattari
ii.
3. Barrenness
a.
4. Visual elements in Thy Womb
a. Vastness and smallness
b. Space and claustrophobia

1. Domestic, private space of Shaleha and Bangas-an

a. Characters
i. Shaleha and Bangas-an’s equitable marriage
1. Division of
ii. Shaleha’s infertility
b. Striated space made smooth
i. Although this space is the most personal of all settings, it is where they
spend the least time.
1. Their marriage is nomadic,
ii.
c. Ambiguous ending
i. Distant camera angles signify
2. Community hotspots in the sea community
a. Characters
i. Shaleha is a midwife
1. Birth and family forming as a method of striation
2.
3. The Tawi-Tawi seascape
a.
Violence as striation

Shaleha is a healing figure

Striated spaces in Thy Womb offer a peculiar fluidity.

Often, it is the smooth space of the sea, open-ended and
In a state of flux, Shaleha and Bangas-an’s marriage,

(Block quote here)

Shaleha being infertile, generative potency is assigned to Bangas-An.

While serving

Rituals

To heal is to return to the familiar.

Shaleha is a healer
- not to say the gendered roles
- what does she heal?

Ultimately, it is Shaleha who has been displaced, deterritorialized

Brillante Mendoza’s Thy Womb presents an assemblage of possibilities.

Marriage as a moment

The performance of Shaleha

Identity in spaces

More than an assembler of assemblages

The figure of Shaleha herself has been striated and demarcated
1. Close-reading:
2. Deleuzian repetition:
a. Butler

Striated spaces in Tawi-tawi offer a peculiar fluidity.

Although the smooth space of the sea is open-ended and

Shaleha’s infertility allows no repetition,

1. Shaleha and Bangas-an

a.