Army Daze 1996 Army Daze is a 1996 Singapore homegrown comedy movie Directed Singapore director Ong Keng Sen. Ong is a member of the theater group TheaterWorks that was founded in 1985. The movie is based on a 1987 theater play of the same name that is written by Michael Chiang. The movie is one of the first few Singapore productions that are spoken Singlish, Standard English, Malay, Hokkien and Mandarin. The Army Daze movie was a hit when it first release on the big screen in 1996. With a budget of $700,000, the movie was one of the most profitable Singaporean films during that time, earning about S$1,600,000 at the local box office. It was later re-release on the big screen earlier this year, in March 2013. It was digitally re-mastered into digital format, which offers the viewer a cleaner and sharper vision of the film, as compare to it’s initial launched in 35mm. Army Daze took set in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), portraying a group of teenage enlistees (five main characters) from different social classes, family and cultural background coming together to perform their 2 years National Service (NS) that every male Singaporean have to go through. It is seen through the eyes of one of the main character, recruit Malcolm Png. Together with other of his platoon and sections mates, they had to leave behind their comfortable home and adjust to their new surrounding and new army lifestyle in their Basic Military Training (BMT). From the basic morning Physical Training (PT), Individual physical proficiency test (IPPT) to Combat training and field camp, they tumble through their way discover many similarities and forge a friendship which would help ease their transition. In this movie, we can see a lot of very local characteristic of Singapore in many aspects. The movie and theater screenplay written by Michael Chiang, uses the multi language, including the use of Singlish and Hokkien, giving the movie a comical effect and attracts viewers as the media platform in Singapore platform allows neither Singlish or Dialect. In the movie, there is one character, a brand-obsessed hawker's son, Ah Beng who can make passionate speeches in Hokkien but can barely muster a word of Mandarin. Whenever he speaks in Hokkien, the rest of the cast will reply him “Ah Beng, 讲华语“， which mean asking Ah beng to converse in Mandarin. This might be a reference to the Speak Mandarin Campaign or 讲华语运动，an initiative by the government of Singapore to encourage the Singaporean Chinese population to speak Mandarin instead of dialect. It was launched in 7 September 1979. The movie also uses characters of different social classes and cultural background, which is another characteristic of Singapore. There are characters that are rich that stays in landed property to a hawker son. They are also made up of different races. This is to show that people from different class and cultural background can put away their difference and work and learn together, even learning about each other life and culture through national service. This movie also serves the purpose of giving the public a glimpse of how National Service in Singapore is like. For people who didn’t need to serve NS, it allows them to understand what every male citizen in Singapore had to go through. As for those who had served NS, it will be a good time for them to recall their days in the army. It also serve as a film to let others know the military readiness of Singapore even though throughout the show the characters made mistakes but learned and work their way to become a solider. Personally I had watch this movie for quite a few times, every time in a different stage of my life and on different platforms. I remembered watching it in the cinema when it was firstly aired. Then I was a 9 years old child who knows nothing about the army, and it was merely just another comedy to me. After that I remembered it being aired on National TV, channel 5, when I was a teenager. The following time I watch it will be when I was in the army, watching it on youtube when I book out from camp. When I watch it then, it was kind of a feeling that I can relate to the movie. The comedy effect seems to be funnier then I first watch it in the cinema. I also can relate it more as I started to understand the terms and the joke they had in the movie. I understand the pain and the suffering that the characters go through. Last time I watch it was also on youtube but was few years after I finish serving my NS. This time when I watch it, I started to recall and miss my training days with my platoon mates. It serves as a refresher for me as I tried to recall the incidents that I had during my NS days and I had a great laugh. Now when I am recalling about the whole movie, it seems that Army Daze is more then just a comedy film. The different in the time that it’s produce made this film having an educational purposes in terms of the military knowledge to the public and also how much the culture and society changed as compare to the recent Army theme movie Ah boys to men. No matter how much Singapore had changed, it seems as it the military haven change much except the technological advances. The joke and comedy effect still revolve around the same things and incident. The use of muilt languages including Singlish and Dialect should not be view as a disgraceful or being banned in Singapore. I personally think that Singlish is an evolution and adaption of the Singapore culture and developing our own language. Through Singlish, we can see the Singapore characteristics of having multi racial citizens. Our forefather came from different country and brought along their language. The use of dialect shows our history and shows Singapore’s history. The use of different languages should be embrace to further show other country that Singaporean can live in harmony with the different race and languages we had.