Dyesebel

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This article is about the comic book character. For the 2008 TV series, see Dyesebel (TV series).

Dyesebel is a popular mermaid character in the Philippines. The comic book character was originally conceived by the Filipino comic book illustrator, Mars Ravelo. Dyesebel is a prominent character in Philippine cinema and television.^[1]

[edit] Plots

[edit] 1953: Dyesebel

In the Philippines, the lore of Dyesebel began with the story of a girl born to a mermaid-obsessed Filipino mother. Whilst pregnant, Dyesebel 's mother obsessively looked at a collection of mermaid pictures from a calendar which eventually affected the infant's form when it was born with a fishtail instead of normal human lower extremities. Dyesebel's father, angered by his child's deformity, wanted to abandon the child, only to be hindered by a bolt of lightning during a typhoon. To avoid the stigma of having a mermaid child, the couple decided to leave their village and relocate where they can raise Dyesebel in secret, hidden from prying eyes. The mermaid Dyesebel eventually met other mermaids while spending time by the seashore, and through her sea adventures, she comes into contact with Diangga, a sea-witch who had the power to transform sea-creatures like Dyesebel into normal humans. Dyesebel fell in love with a normal human man. But after her secret of being a mermaid was exposed, it prompted the jealous former girlfriend of the man with whom Dyesebel was in love, to kidnap Dyesebel and place her in a carnival. Dyesebel was later saved by her human lover. Diangga, the sea-witch, eventually transformed Dyesebel into a permanent female human with normal lower extremities.^[2][1]

[edit] 1964: Anak ni Dyesebel

After a decade, Gerardo de Leon reunited the cast of the blockbuster 1953 movie Dyesebel in a sequel based on Mars Ravelo's Anak ni Dyesebel. The movie introduced Alona (played by Eva Montes), the daughter of Dyesebel (Edna Luna) and Fredo (Jaime dela Rosa).

[edit] 1973: Si Dyesebel at ang Mahiwagang Kabibe

The 1973 Dyesebel movie directed by Emmanuel H. Borlaza was closer to Mars Ravelo's heroine mermaid. The character inhabits an undersea kingdom of mermaids, outcasted from the land of humans due to the belief that mermaids are the cause of misfortune. Dyesebel became attracted to a male human being and swore to find any means to be transformed into normal human woman, in order to be with the man that her heart desired.^[3][1] In this movie, Vilma Santos played the role of Dyesebel making her the first and only actress to play both Darna and Dyesebel, both classic Mars Ravelo creations. Romeo Miranda played Fredo.

[edit] 1978: Dyesebel

Dyesebel (Alma Moreno) was a mermaid born to a rich couple. The husband claimed his wife had an affair with a merman. Still loving and accepting, they moved to their beachhouse where Dyesebel was kept in a wheelchair covered with a blanket to hide her tail. It was only her parents and her nanny who knew her identity as a mermaid. As she grew up into a lady mermaid (still on shore) the family hires Fredo and his dad as their gardener. Fredo and Dyesebel fall in love and after Dyesebel reveals herself to Fredo, they decide to get married (complete with Dyesebel wearing a wedding gown, in a fishtail). Shortly after they got married, Dyesebel's parents died in a plane crash. Then, Dyesebel discovered that Fredo is a womanizer. In full despair, she heard (after a long, long time) the ocean calling her and she joined the mermaid kingdom. Trying to be happy, she admitted that she misses Fredo and asks Banak (Nova Villa) how to be become human. She leads her to Dyangga (Bella Flores), a human octopus, where with the help of a merman friend, kills Dyangga to get the magical pearl on her head. She becomes human for an hour or so, only to break up with Fredo and decide to be a mermaid forever, and live in the ocean she was deprived from since birth.

[edit] 1990: Alice Dixon's Dyesebel

Obviously inspired by the movie Splash Alice Dixon's Dyesbel takes on a mature storyline, making it suitable for its generation.

Perhaps the most memorable Dyesebel movie to date, the version has many "firsts" that makes Dyesebel what it is now: it was the first dyesebel to use the "orange-colored" fishtail, which is commonly used now, the first Dyesebel movie with real underwater scenes, the first mermaid in the aquarium, the first mermaid movie that showcased a combination of her life on the water and on land, thus having mermaid-human transformations. IT was also the first Dyesabel film to show a realistic storyline on love and relationships.

A couple found a wounded and stranded pregnant mermaid on shore, who died after giving birth. Being childless, the couple adopted the mermaid's daughter and named her Dyesbel, From Dyesebel's childhood through her teenage years, she and her family moved from palce to place. they moved from place to place to get away from angry mob The teen Dyesebel (Carmina Villaroel) starts to ask questions why she's a mermaid and shows signs of wanting to be a human. It was at this time that they decide to let Dyesebel go into the deep with the other mermaids (not shown on screen)where, she has chance encounters with the teen Edward (Robert Ortega) fast forward to present day where Dyesebel is now a lady (Alice Dixon) she sees Edward (Richard Gomez) again, then searches Banak, a sea witch this time, to help her acquire human legs through a magic shell. However, it's only temporary, the shell has to be within her reach 24/7 or else she'll have her tails back.

She finds shelter through Marina (malou de guzman) and Iday (judy ann santos)who later on discovers her identity but still remain true to her. Still having edwards wallet that was misplaced on the water (similar to splash) Dyesebel and friends look for Edward and becomes a famous model (edward's friends own a modeling agency). dyesebel and edward finally meets and become lovers, however, malou, edwards almost-stalker-like-girlfriend-wannabe tries to break their relationship, at the same time, dyesebel has a hardtime keeping her identity a secret to edward. until she finally admits it to him, and shows him her trueself, where they broke up for sometime, until edward realizes he cant live without her, they are about to become closer and malou accidentally finds out, and exposed dyesebel's mermaid identity in a birthday party for edward (wonderful scene!) where the media and the government took interests on her, as a display on the country's underwater museum! (aquarium museum) but edwards rescued her, and malou discovered dyesebel's magic shells, steals it and breaks it, however, it only turned dyesebel into a human permanently and her into a mermaid, permanently.

[edit] 1996: Dyesebel

Dyesebel is a 1996 film version Charlene Gonzales played Dyesebel with Matthew Mendoza as Fredo. It was directed by Emmanuel H. Borlaza.

[edit] On-screen actresses

In the movies, Dyesebel was portrayed by Filipino actresses, Edna Luna, Vilma Santos, Alma Moreno, Alice Dixon, and Charlene Gonzales. In television, she was personified by the actress Ara Mina in a cameo appearance in Mars Ravelo's Darna (2005 TV Series). Vilma Santos was the only actress who played two of Mars Ravelo's komiks characters respectively, namely Darna and Dyesebel.^[1]

[edit] Chronological list of actresses who played Dyesebel in the movies and on television:

[edit] chronoligical list of actors who played Fredo in the movies and on television:

[edit] 2008 TV Series

Main article: Dyesebel (TV series)

GMA Network had announced that they will be doing a TV series of Dyesebel for 2008,It begins airing on April 28, 2008. They are eyeing Rhian Ramos for the title role but it ended up with Marian Rivera.It was also said that Dennis Trillo had the part of Fredo but turned out to be Dingdong Dantes, Marian's leading man in MariMar. The same network has earlier made a TV series of Mars Ravelo's works like Darna and Captain Barbell.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Panday (comics)
• Zuma (comics)
• Philippine mythical creatures

[edit] External links

• Dyesebel illustrations, photographs and screenshots in Philippine comics, film and television at MarsRavelo.Tripod.com
• Dyesebel film (1950) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dyesebel film (1973) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dyesebel film (1990) at the Internet Movie Database
• Dyesebel film (1997) at the Internet Movie Database