Lesson 2: Pop Culture & Social Media in the PH

• Pop Culture is the universal language. It connects people with different backgrounds which creates a common ground that shapes our views, beliefs, and attitudes.
• Pop Culture in the Philippines was created and used by the Spaniards to the native Filipinos or Indios through plays and literature to get the heart of the natives.
• To be able to trace the colonial origins of pop culture in the Philippines, look into the salient developments in Philippine literature.
• Forms of Popular Theater and Literature

  • Pasyon - Narrative of the life and death of Christ
  • Senakulo - Dramatization of the life and death of Christ
  • Korido - Metrical tale written in octosyllabic quatrains
• History: Spanish Period

  Ensured the acceptance and spread of Christianity. Colonial authorities create pop culture to promote interests of the Church and the state.
• Ladinos are native intelligentsia. Knew the effects of pop culture and used it against the Spaniards through Propaganda movement using the same form to undermine abusive friars.
• History: American Period

  American colonialism brought liberal policy

  • Printing press, radio, television, and film
  • Increased circulation of popular form
• History: American Period

  Hollywood film near-monopoly in the Philippine market in the absence of Europe due to World War I
• Ladinos or the local intelligentsia noticed that popular culture is a commodity intended for the mass market is seen as a threat to serious artistic work. The artists accomodated to the demands of the publishers and editors who are more interested in sales than aesthetics. (Lumbera)
• Popular Culture is not created by populace, but culture created from by the ruling elite or members of intelligentsia employed by the elite for the consumption of populace.
• Package entertainment or art intended for the profit of rulers (colonial administrators, native, or businessmen)
• Netizens are net citizens (Michael Hauben, 1996)
• Theory Netizens and Democratization of Media

  With the use of internet, geographical separation is replaced by the existence of the same virtual space (Michael Hauben, 1996)
• Internet can be the "source of opinion" and netizens can train themselves to discern real from fabricated information (Hauben)
• Hauben's prophecy is reflected in Graeme Turner's book 'The Demotic Turn' but in a extreme way that even news reports were bent to suit the infotainment, genre favored by the general public, such as sensationalizing small news items and making a big deal out of such.
• What does pop culture shape?

  Views, beliefs, and attidudes
• Where do you trace the colonial origins of pop culture in the Philippines?


  Salient developments in Philippine literature
• Pop Culture is created from who

  Ruling elite and members of intelligentsia employed by elites
• Example of an infotainment

  Sensationalizing small news items and making a big deal out of such