Is how we define ourselves different from how the world views us, Jane muses.
In his interview, this month’s cover personality Eric Khoo talked about his favourite film genre—horror. Fans will know this wasn’t a genre he started out producing—his iconic movies Mee Pok Man and 12 Storeys in the 1990s, along with Be With Me and My Magic in the 2000s, were box office hits with a gritty Singaporean vernacular that became his trademark.
It wasn’t until 2004, when he executive produced a supernatural TV series 7th Month, that he showed his mettle with the horror genre. Then in 2009, his company Zhao Wei Films collaborated with Mike Wiluan’s Infinite Frameworks to start an independent genre label called Gorylah Pictures. “I couldn’t really make my first film a horror film because then I’d be typecast,” he reasoned.
I am reminded that how we define ourselves (and our work, for that matter) may not always be how we see ourselves or how we project our personality to the world—but rather, to a large extent, how the world actually views us. If Eric had not recognised this all those years ago, and had indeed pursued horror as his pet genre from the get-go, he would be a very different director today. Not that it’s a bad thing—but perhaps it would not have been what he wanted.
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In the same vein, who we are today is made up of where we have come from, and the same will help us get to where we need to be. History is the fabric of our society: connections made, milestones crossed, iconic moments chronicled and yes, salacious events pushed into the corners of our dusty memories. Winston Churchill said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” I understand this as learning from the past to drive with clarity into the future.