Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sample Journal
Sample Journal
Communication Journal
Philippine Copyright 2007
By Far Eastern University
Department of Communicatin
Institute of Arts and Sciences
Published in 2007
By Far Eastern University Publications
Far Eastern University
Nicanor Reyes Street
Manila, Philippines
Telephone: (632) 7360039
Email: amalcampo@feu.edu.ph
ISSN: 1656-8168
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover Design:
Ross Joseph B. Copiaco
Jon Paolo O. Nora
Jaime L. An Lim
Cover Sculpture:
Vicente Manansala
Layout:
Iren C. dela Cruz
fonts used:
(cover) Bookman OldStyle, Arial
(inside) Perpetua, Tahoma
FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY
Communication Journal
Vol. 3 An Annual Publication of the Department of Communication 2007
JOEVEN R. CASTRO
Editor
Communication Journal
Vol. 3 An Annual Publication of the Department of Communication 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ARTICLES
REVIEWS
INTERVIEW
viii
Jhonalyn Concha for helping me during the journals foundational stage;
Prof. Reggy Figer for acting as my online adviser and critic; my chair Prof.
Gene B. Pamittan, Jr. for believing in me and supporting this scholarly
pursuit; Prof. Danny Vibas, Publications Editor, for his meticulous eyes
that improved the overall makeup of this journal; Dean Jaime An Lim and
Associate Dean Violeta Jerusalem for supporting this academic endeavor;
the very accommodating Miss Agnes Malcampo and her staff particularly
Iren dela Cruz for working like a bullet train just so we could finish this
journal on schedule.
For the most important woman in my life, my mother, and for my
idols/mentors Dr. Zenaida S. Martinez, Dr. Lourdes Portus, Dr. Paz Diaz,
Prof. Chi-Chi Fajardo-Robles, and Prof. Josefina M.C. Santos, I dedicate this
journal to you.
JOEVEN R. CASTRO
ix
Ding ang Bato! The Rise of Super
Hero(ines) and Violence
on Local Television
Feminism has changed not only how women dene their roles in society, but also
how they are portrayed in mass media.What was once considered a male spacethe
superhero genreis now very much appropriated by women. The mushrooming of
fantasy-action series in the countrys leading television networks, ABS-CBN and GMA
Network, has created a new breed of heroines on primetime TV. Women now engage in
stunts, stghts, ight, and other action sequences that parallel those of male action
heroes in saving the day and the oppressed.
A NEW BREED of superheroes has invaded our television screens. They are
strong, confident, complicated, beautiful, and sexy. They are not men; they
are women, with not just brawn but also brains. The popularity of female
superheroes in the country as exemplified by Alwina (portrayed by Angel
Locsin) in Mulawin1, Darna2 (Angel Locsin) and the Sanggres of Encantadia3
(played by Sunshine Dizon, Iza Calzado, Karylle, and Diana Zubiri) proves
that saving the day and helping the oppressed are not just mens domain
anymore.
COMMUNICATION JOURNAL 2007: 1-19
Brillon
2
Ding ang Bato!
feminization of superheroes.
According to one Harvard professor, this trend encouraged women
to resolve problems by using violence as a means. She said that todays girls
resorted to kick em, beat em up solutions (Beaucar, 2001). Some wary critics
have also said that the appeal of female superheroes hinged on the fact that
they were still sexualized objects or models for women to measure up to
and for men to ogle at.
This study outlines the rise of women superheroes on TV and discusses
the implications of female superheroes using violence to achieve justice.
It focuses on the 2005 GMA-produced telefantasya, Darna (specifically
episodes aired from April 4 to April 21 and from May 31 to June 2, 2005).
The choice of Darna as the subject of this study lies on the widely held
perception that she is the most iconic of all local superheroes and has the
most successful multimedia franchise since 1950s, when an illustrated komiks
novel of the same title was published by Mars Ravelo in Pilipino Komiks.
The superheroine Darna has appeared in 15 movies and in an animated series
produced by GMA in 1989. The komiks character also became a popular
product endorser and was featured in Ballet Philippines theater production
in celebration of her 50th year last 20035. As a testament to her enduring
popularity, Darna, the TV series, was a consistent top rater during its nine-
month run on GMA 7.
3
Brillon
the fight for equality is old news. In some postfeminist discourses, men are
on the background as objects of desire, role models or villains (67). This
sudden shift reversed the traditional portrayal where man is on the center
and women on the periphery.
The same social change is reflected in mass media. Women were
given more attentiontheir characters were developed not only in the
context of the home but also in workplace. A study on the history of women
superheroes6 revealed that the noticeable increase in women action heroes
was traced to cult favorite Xena (a spin-off of the show Hercules). Producers,
seeing that the show created a new fan base, started to come up with more
concepts and ideas about female heroes. Suddenly Buffy, Charmed, Alias and
company became in vogue and male action heroes slowly eclipsed.
What attraction do women superheroes hold on the viewers? Why is
it popular not only with the male (the primary target demographic) but also
with the female crowd?
In the Philippines, a country with several strong female figures
ranging from the real-life heroes Gabriela Silang, Gregoria De Jesus, and
Melchora Aquino, to the mythical figures of goddesses like Maria Makiling,
Mariang Sinukuan and a host of other diwatas, to two women presidents,
television had not kept up with the changing times as primetime soap operas
continued to portray women as virgins in search of the ideal, sensitive male;
as damsels in distress needing rescue from their princes; as sidekicks, best
friends, and girlfriends.
According to Tasker (1993), damsel-in-distress roles are based on
the legend of Andromeda tied to a rock, awaiting rescue from Perseus.
Women are also oftentimes the villains.Tolentino (2000) noted that sexually
confident and independent women are treated as villains. Their ambitious
drive and secured status are considered threat to patriarchy. So they are
either co-opted back into the system through conversion as villains or they
are eventually dismissed as a whore and lunatic; hauled off to an asylum
or worst, killed. That was still the scenario in the Philippines in the 90s
despite the apparent gains of feminism. Evasco (1992) had to point out then
that the struggle of many women was still in the semi-feudal/patriarchal
matrix wherein traditional roles and values associated with women and the
traditional ways of fulfilling them were still fixed.
These were before the telefantasyas.
4
Ding ang Bato!
Telefantasya/Fantaserye
5
Brillon
6
Ding ang Bato!
7
Brillon
8
Ding ang Bato!
extraordinary and by labeling her as the most famous Pinay10 (italics supplied)
superhero hinged on the aforesaid. Why does Darna, or any superhero
for that matter, have alter egos? Does their human disguise represent the
feminine side while their superhero identity function as fantasy/pleasure
for patriarchy? If there is a space for the male superhero, is there a space for
the female hero? Would any representation made be compared and studied
against the conception of the male hero?
Locally, Luceros (2001) article entitled Fish, Goddess, Superwoman, and
Forest Nymph: Women in Fantasy Films looked at several fantasy films produced.
Darna: Ang Pagbabalik (1994) that starred former beauty queen and sexy star
Anjanette Abayari was studied. Lucero used gender analysis (feminist) to
deconstruct womens function as shown in fantasy films. According to her,
within a patriarchal discourse every female character in a film of any genre
whether realistic, melodramatic, comic or fantasticis always simply the
object of mans fantasy (2001: 12). Her fantasy stories start when she leaves
her natural, Eden-like habitat and ventures into urban wilderness.
According to Lucero, in Darna:Ang Pagbabalik, there was a role reversal
of conventional male and female position with the female as hero and the
male as damsel in distress. It also pointed out how the conflation of woman
and place was repeatedly reaffirmed. Places like home, landscape, sea, and
forest nature were feminized. Womans greatest virtue was topophilia, the
affectionate attachment to places, the urge to settle down and keep home
fires burning. In effect, having this attachment to places associated with
women dilutes the power of female superheroes as they are offered to
patriarchy as non-threatening and harmless. This is the reason why narrative
plotlines like love story/romance and nurturing the family are prevalent.
Tasker (1998) notes that these women superheroes can be traced back to the
tradition of Pygmalion: All are created for the male fantasy.
Darna as a Superhero(ine)
1. Fantasy = Reality
The superhero genre lies in the border of fantasy and reality. Owing to
the trend that started in the 1960s, these programs incorporate characters
9
Brillon
culled from literature, mythology, folklore, and even from the writers own
imagination with a contemporary setting to appeal to the viewers. Darna,
even with its futuristic vision11 as apparent in the first episode (April 4,
2005), still has, as enemies, manananggal12 (half-bodied vampires) and
mambabarang13 (male witches), both mythical local creatures.
2. Power as Birthright
In many western and local movies, male protagonists are thrown
into circumstances that force them to take up arms and fight back. Males
decision to rid the world of evil is theirs alone.This rarely happens, however,
in women programs, as their powers are some kind of a birthrighta
destiny. In Darna, only Narda (the alter ego) can harness the power of the
puting bato (white stone) even when she refused the responsibility as Darna.
It seems that her destiny to save the world is the only reason why she was
brought into the world of action. Free will only comes next.
3. Weapons of Choice
Male action heroes have commonly chosen guns, knives, and swords
(considered as phallic symbols) as weapons. Female superheroes are not to
be left behind as they too have their own weapons, which can be interpreted
as a turning of the tables. The woman is now in control of these instruments
of destruction. However, one noticeable trend in Darna is the limited use
of actual weapons to either kill or maim the enemy. Unlike in male action
heroes where the highlight is in their prowess with guns and knives and
the number of bullets they pump into the bodies of their enemies, Darna,
because of the puting batos power, had no reason to carry any sort of weapon.
Indeed, the thrill is in seeing her kick butt by literally punching, kicking,
and engaging her enemies in stunts. Usual encounters include several
minutes of kickboxing, acrobatics, and choreographed stunts.
10
Ding ang Bato!
protect the world, not to mention that any of her love interest may be
seriously at risk given the extreme dangers of her duty. On the contrary,
what these shows have is the presence of a female support group acting as
co-workers, friends, and family members. At initial glance, these programs
have given way to the rise in representing matrilineal societies.
The table illustrates that women villains still figure prominently even
in telefantasyas. The reason may be due to the fact that having both women as
a hero and villain put them on equal ground and veer away from alienating
male viewers when they engage in fight scenes.This is important so that they
will not be construed a threat to patriarchy.
11
Brillon
12
Ding ang Bato!
such as natural disasters (42). According to this definition, any action that
can cause or inflict harm is considered violent regardless of genre (cartoons
and so-childrens shows can even fall into this category). Bailey and Hale
(1998) further defined violence by differentiating its types:
1. Instrumental violence - violent behavior used by individuals
(sometimes by groups) to achieve a particular goal or end.
It assumes that violence is generally a rational and cognitive
process.
2. Expressive violence- violence is largely an expressive phenomenon
that erupts as an expression of deep emotional forces and feelings
such as rage, anger, and frustration.
Focusing on instrumental violence, superheroes are, therefore, all
about saving the world. The means and social context may differ, but these
heroes do not lose focus in their goal of ridding the world of evil by using
force as primary weapon. Violence is then justified as highly necessary to
attain an end goal that is of a higher purpose.
Violence?...Where?
13
Brillon
Exploiting Violence
14
Ding ang Bato!
Conclusion
This researcher has always been a fan of female superheroes way back
when Wonder Woman and Darna were the icons who could scare and weaken
mens knees.Those female superheroes have been absent for quite sometime
before making a comeback via the telefantasyas. The researchers admiration
for these characters was borne out of her need to see women in more than
damsel-in-distress roles. For a while, the researcher has had enough of crying
women suffering in misery. For once, she wants women to fight back.
15
Brillon
16
Ding ang Bato!
Notes
1
According to AGB Neilsen, the ratings of Mulawins final episode was 49.9%.
2
According to AGB Neilsen, Darnas fourth episode aired last April 7, 2005,
registered a record breaking 52.2%.
3
According to AGB Neilsen, Encantadias first week rating reached 47.3%.
4
Beaucar, K. (2001). Spike in female juvenile violence prompts multitude of
explanations. Retrieved August 14, 2003 from http://www.foxnews.com/
story/0,2933,31665,00.html
5
Darna-related information taken from the official Mars Ravelo Darna website
http://www.marsravelodarna.com/id3.html.
6
This paper is a reworking of the authors previous study on women superheroes.
See Brillon, C. (2003). Beauty, brains, and brawn: Violence and the rise of televisions
action heroines. Unpublished study, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantaserye
8
http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/14/fredericks14art.htm
9
For further discussion of male action heroes, please see Gealogo, F. (2000).
Nardong putik in the genealogy of Tagalog folk heroes. In R. Tolentino (Ed.),
Geopolitics of the visible. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press and
Sotto, A. (1989). Christ gures in a troubled land. Manila: Cultural Center of the
Philippines.
17
Brillon
10
According to the two part Darna primer aired March 31-April 1, 2005.
11
This is especially apparent in the first episode of the series as it showed the
futuristic battle between the forces of Adranikan and Anomalkan.
12
Manananggal comes from the Tagalog, tanggal (cognate of Malay and Indonesian
tanggal) which means to remove or to separate.
13
Male witch or warlock. In the TV series, he is the king of insects.
14
For further discussion of what constitutes the action genre for Filipinos, please
see Sotto, A. (1989). Christ gures in a troubled land. Manila: Cultural Center of the
Philippines.
References
18
Ding ang Bato!
Projansky, S. (2001). Watching rape: Film and television in postfeminist culture. New
York: New York University Press.
Pyle, C. (1994). The superhero meets the culture critic. Retrieved October
15, 2005, from http://infomotions.com/serials/pmc/pmc-v5n1-pyle-
superhero.txt
Tasker, Y. (1993). Spectacular bodies: Gender, genre, and the action cinema. New York:
Routledge.
Tasker, Y. (1998). Working girls: Gender and sexuality in popular cinema. New York:
Routledge.
Tolentino, R. (2000). Richard Gomez at ang mito ng pagkalalake, Sharon Cuneta at
perpetwal na birhen at iba pang sanaysay ukol sa bida sa pelikula bilang kultural na
teksto. Pasig City: Anvil.
_____________________
Cherish Aileen A. Brillon is currently teaching film criticism, broadcast writing,
and research at Far Eastern University while struggling to become a filmmaker,
writer, and events organizer for Banned Movies Pilipinas. She is also the adviser of
the FEU Film Society. She finished her M.A. in Media Studies major in Broadcasting
at University of the Philippines, Diliman.
19
Nosebleed! Untangling
the String of Inday Jokes
in Computer-Mediated
Communication
Computer-mediated technologies like SMS (Short Messaging Service) and the Internet
have constructed an identity for the Filipina housemaid in the form of Inday jokes.
Inday is depicted as knowledgeable, with a good command of the English language
and a fondness for highfalutin expressions, thus befuddling people of seemingly higher
social status.Through the lens of Kramaraes Muted Group Theory, the string of jokes
reects social perceptions about Filipina housemaids and how they can overcome
them. Sherry Turkles Subject Theory, on the other hand, showed the role of computer-
mediated technology in re-shaping Indays persona.Textual analysis revealed that the
jokes have provided a discourse that seeks to liberate Inday from traditional domestic
roles and stereotypes even if the liberation happens only within the persona of an
avatar.
ONE of our quirky traits as Filipinos is our ability to laugh at ourselves even
about things that are normally hurtful. We turn irritating and disgusting
incidents into comical tirades that lunge at the egos jugular, yet tickle
the funny bone as well. We are naturally easily amused. One root of our
humor is self-deprecation (Reyes, n.d.) or insulting others. Residents of
Metro Manila, for instance, spend hours in the laugh-a-minute comedy
bars where gay performers specialize on what others have come to call as
theater of cruelty: they insult not only each other but even those bold
enough to perform in the sing-along portion of the nights entertainment
fare. Others make-do with reading the jokes about the countrys deposed
chief executive1 who has always been (in?)famous for his so-called carabao
English and malapropisms.
Recently, Inday Jokes reverberated on cellular phones, through
Short Messaging Service (SMS), more popularly known as text. The string
of jokes has become as widespread as the chain texts, the ERAPtions (jokes
about former President Joseph Estrada), and Boy Bastos2.
Joey Lopez, a Philippine Studies professor at Far Eastern University,
says that Inday is a common name for a woman in the Visayas, one of the
three major islands in the Philippines. It is actually a term of endearment,
even of respect. The Visayans address as Inday any girl or woman whose
name they do not know. They also attach it before a womans name as in
Inday Rosa as a sign of respect. Unfortunately, in the big cities and through
the years, the term Inday has deteriorated to mean a female domestic
help as there are, indeed, a big number of young and old women from
the Visayas who migrate to urban areas to work as housemaids. Stereotypes
on Inday include her distinct Visayan accent, one who is a dim-wit largely
due to lack of formal education, and subservient to her employer or amo
(personal communication, October 19, 2007).
This paper is a textual analysis of randomly selected 10 Inday jokes
spread in the SMS. It also includes analysis of some jokes in www.blogniinday.
com, the web blog for Inday, which also deserve analysis for getting 7000
visits per day and placing sixth among the daily top 10 English blogs hosted
by the California-based free blog provider WordPress.com (Asian Journal
Online, 2007).
The sad plight of domestic helps in the Philippines is not debatable;
thus, it is a constant in this article. But through Inday jokes, these poor
conditions are improved through Cheris Kramaraes Muted Group Theory
(in Griffin, 2000) by unraveling the connotative meanings of the personality
that creators of Inday jokes have intended for Inday.This article also examines
the role of computer-mediated technology in re-shaping Indays persona by
anchoring it on Sherry Turkles Subject Theory (in Holmes, 2005).
21
Dauz
The humor of Inday jokes does not lie in the command and use of
highfalutin English language, but in how she is knowledgeable, expository,
and able to show off her intellect that befuddles people of seemingly higher
social status. To imagine the stereotypical housemaid showing as much
pizzazz as Inday in her exploits conditions the readers and sets the stage for
the pun of Indays intellectual affluence.
Many SMS users popularized the term nagdugo ang ilong (nosebleed)
to connote the complexity of Indays responses to her employer, which
purportedly, could cause the nose to bleed. The jokes staying power
and relevance, though, is contentious. These jokes are reflective of the
long-standing low regard for our domestic workers, said Visayas Forum
Foundation deputy executive director Rolando Pacis (in Aning, October 10,
2007). Pacis further said, While humor is appreciated once in a while, we
must realize that it can also be an insidious medium for normalizing certain
negative stereotypesIs it really unusual and amusing when domestic
workers are [portrayed as] smart in those jokes? Is there a presupposition
that they are ignorant? Are maids that inconsequential and incapable of any
intelligent discussion?
Nenita Ka Nitz Gonzaga, vice president for womens affairs of the
group Kilusang Mayo Uno, also raised her concern about the jokes: We think
its funny because we believe a maid like Inday is impossible. But then, is
there such a real person as Indays employer, who can tolerate her ways? In
bourgeois households, a maid who isor tries to bemore intelligent than
the employer is sure to get fired (in Aning, October 10, 2007).
On the other hand, Indays creator, the blogger who put up www.
blogniinday.com, said, Im just a fan of Inday who thinks that she can be
a Filipino icon portraying the modern Juan dela Cruz in the urban world
(Asian Journal Online, 2007).
For a text string to be publicized, debated in national dailies, and
even featured in ABS-CBNs Probe, one of the countrys leading investigative
journalism television shows, last October 17, 2007 indicates that the string
has meanings and effects worthy of serious thought. It has implications on
the image of the Filipino domestic help, of the Visayan people in general, of
Filipinas. Inday jokes, thus, have ceased to be sheer jokes. They are probably
to be enjoyed but their subtleties, albeit unintentional, have touched a cord
22
Nosebleed!
23
Dauz
Below are some strings of SMS jokes and the authors understanding
of their latent meanings:
A change in the weather patterns might have occurred,
wreaking havoc to the surroundings. The way the debris
are scattered indicates that the gust of wind was going
northeast causing damage to the path it was heading for.
[Sagot ni Inday sa amo nung tinanong kung bakit nagkalat and
basura sa likod ng bahay (Indays response to her employer
when the latter asked why garbage is littered at the
backyard)].
This creates an image of calm and able knowledge. Faced with a
normally irate question, Indays response is methodical, giving mind to
causal factors, indicating well-structured thought patterns, instead of a shy
person bowing to chastisement.
Its absurd! It was never a fact that he will figure in a
fight. I can handle schizophrenic kids in this educational
institution. Revise your policies because it sucks. [Inday
kasama si Junior sa principals officeang principal
natulala! (Inday with Junior at the principals officethe
principal was tongue-tied!)]
The following joke was taken from www.blogniinday.com:
[Sumali si Junior sa isang Science Fair sa school nila at
24
Nosebleed!
25
Dauz
26
Nosebleed!
27
Dauz
Sherry Turkle (in Holmes, 2005) expostulates what she calls the
Subject Theory : the avatar or fictive identity. She postulates: From
the point of view of the medium itself, to seek to understand the avatars
behavior by establishing a link between that avatar and (a real) identity will
tell us very little compared to understanding the way identity is formed
within the medium itself (142). Inday departs from any real household
28
Nosebleed!
help, but becomes an icon an avatar for them.The iconic Inday transcends
reality in various ways compared to real-life domestic helps. The iconic
Indays relationship and commonalities with a real household help need not
be delved on since the real subject of discussion is how she was created in
such an anonymous and interactive medium.
Through computer-mediated communication, an identity is formed
that serves as a great way of (re)constructing the identity even within
the level of virtual reality only. While subject theory and medium theory
do not concern themselves with the relationship between the avatar and
real identity, the avatar is necessary to promote public discourse that can
help further the causes of housemaids who are muted not only during
interpersonal communication because of the control wielded by superiors
who pay for their labor, but probably also in forwarding their labor rights.
This juxtaposes with the strategy of women (and subordinates) as muted
groups where as a consequence of being silenced, women often make
efforts to change the dominant rules of communication in order to get
around or resist conventional rules (Littlejohn, 1999: 245).
The SMS, as a faceless and voiceless medium ruled by words, indirectly
if also vicariously allows housemaids to challenge conventional rules of
those in power. Cheap access to this medium, as evidenced by the continuous
lowering of charges by telecommunications companies, and the anonymous
personality of almost every social class that uses the medium has become the
empowering tools of Inday.
Anonymous users can create whatever image they want, devoid of
visual or even auditory markers. They exchange messages and widen social
circles, which formed a virtual socialization process. Real identities of
participants have become more and more vague giving the Inday icon the
chance to liberate herself from stereotypes.
The liberation starts with the creation of multiple identities with a
set of roles that can be mixed and matched, whose diverse demands need
to be negotiated (Turkle in Holmes, 2005: 142). Inday jokes present how
housemaids can be perceived differently and more positively instead of the
usual dim-witted image.
The re-created identity in the alternative medium goes against the
stereotypes purveyed in traditional mass media. It is a new social relation
that challenges the status quo.
29
Dauz
Synthesis
30
Nosebleed!
and the growing awareness of users or readers of SMS and blogs about Inday
are proofs of the concern for the Filipina housemaid.
The anonymous creators of Inday jokes have also significantly
contributed to the discourse because they have encouraged fellow creators
and users to become bolder in the way they would like Inday to be depicted.
They express a certain degree of care by trying to empower someone who
at this point is incapacitated to empower herself. Having control in pressing
the keypads of cellular phones and computers, no one can stop the users
from taking advantage of the alternative medium.
Eventually, the laughter will die down. But in the final analysis,
humor in all its guises and uses, binds Filipinos together, transforming an
experience into an event that can be shared by all. When Filipinos laugh at
something that is unique to them, their laughter becomes an assertion of
their unity as a people (Reyes, n.d., para. 15).
In closing, allow this researcher to share this one last Inday joke:
[Nilabas ni Inday ang bulletin na ito para sagutin ang mga
nagrereklamo sa kanyang pagiging sikat: (Inday sent out this
bulletin to respond to the complaints on her popularity)]
(www.blogniinday):
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I would like to take exception to the unwanted and
unsolicited opinions that my popularity is not good to the
name and standing of all Pinay maids, in particular, and
the whole Filipino people, in general. To my detractors,
I say stop your derogatory, if not envious, bent. Im
proud of being a maid. The work may be menial but it is
honorable. I urge my idol and Manay Miriam to call for
a bicameral investigation in aid of legislation regarding
this matter.
Sincerely,
Inday
Needless to say, this researcher is for the proliferation of Inday jokes
throughout the country and even in countries where Filipinas work as
domestic helps.
31
Dauz
Notes
1
Former President Joseph Erap Estrada is the subject of the string of Erap jokes
that usually pun on what is perceived as his low intelligence quotient. Erap was a
college dropout, thus, the assumption that he has poor IQ.
2
Boy Bastos was a text chain featuring a male character in elementary who antagonizes
elders, mostly teachers, with lewd jokes and retorts.
References
Aning, J. (2007, October 10). Inday jokes in English, smarter than Eraptions.
Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 20, 2007, from http://newsinfo.
inquirer.net/ breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=93558.
Asian Journal Online. (2007, November 15). Inday now has a blog.
Retrieved November 24, 2007 from http://www.asianjournal.com/
?c=187&a=24319.
Blog ni Inday! Ang sosyal na katulong. (2007, September 27). Retrieved November
24, 2007, from http://blogniinday.com.
Griffin, E. (2000). A rst look at communication theory. USA: McGraw-Hill.
Holmes, D. (2005). Communication theory: Media, technology, and society. London:
SAGE.
Littlejohn, S. (1999). Theories of human communication (6th ed). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
Probe Productions, Inc. (2007). Komedya o Trahedya? Retrieved October 22,
2007, from http://www.probetv.com/view_video.php?viewkey=64bfb9
0db9e32851ebf9.
Reyes, J. (n.d.) Power of language. Living in the Philippines Website. Retrieved
November 15, 2007, from http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/
philippine_articles/sense_being_filipino/power_laughter.html.
Sayres, N. (2005). An analysis of the situation of Filipino domestic worker. Manila:
International Labour Organization.
_____________________
Arvin William H. Dauz, an AB Mass Communication graduate, was the former
Editor-in-Chief of The Advocate, the official student publication of Far Eastern
University in 2005-2006. He is a young entrepreneur while working in a Business
Process Outsourcing office.
32
Womans Body Power
in Philippine Sex Melodramas
Sex lms are sites for power discourse. This article reviews some lms that show the
power of sex workers, especially female sex workers, one of the most maligned people
in Philippine society. It discusses Philippine sex melodramas as a lm genre and the
power discourses depicted in these lms.
This article traces the beginning of the genre and enumerates its characteristics. For
theoretical framework, it goes beyond Mulveys male gaze and voyeuristic daydreams.
It is based on Webers three dimensions of differenceclass, status and powerand on
Wilhelm Reichs thoughts on sexuality but focuses on Michel Foucaults technologies
of the Self concept.
The article concludes that based on the particular lms studied, a political technology
of the body exists in the sub-culture of the sex workers and the protagonists use such
political technology to their advantage.
Richard Dyer (1982) says, The idea of looking (staring) as power and
being looked at as powerlessness overlaps with ideas of activity/passivity.
Thus, to look is thought of as active while to be looked at is passive. In reality,
this is not true. This power structure is not just in pin-up photography
or movies but also in real life. Powerful people like stars, politicians, and
tycoons desire to be looked at when they enter a movie set, a gala premiere,
a party, a boardroom, and presumably even a bedroom.
The thesis of this article is sex films are sites for power discourse. Its
specific objective is to determine how women characters are portrayed in
certain types of films in terms of sexuality and power.
Patrick Flores (2000) noted: Sex in Philippine cinema has to be seen
as always enmeshed in power: the power to suffer pleasure, the power to
address desire, the power of agents to resist both craving and conscription as
sexual labor and capital (68). Thus, this article analyzes the different power
discourses in specific sex melodramas with sex workers as their filmic
theme.
34
Womans Body Power
Sexual revolution in the United States and Europe in the late 1960s had
its repercussions in the Philippines.The change in Hollywood as indicated by
the demise of the Hays Code affected Philippine cinema, which is almost an
extension of Hollywood. James Kenny (1995) in his essay Tagalog Movies and
Identity: Portrayals of the Filipino Self writes: The American film industry has
left a lasting impression on Philippine cinema motifs, mythology, storylines,
and characterizations. It has also influenced the way Filipinos see themselves
portrayed on screens in darkened movie houses across the archipelago.
Tiongson (2000: 22) says, Throughout the American colonial era and
the period of the Philippine Republic, Hollywood exercised the strongest
influence and pressure on the Filipino film.
The era was politically volatile. Getting the cue from the Civil Rights
movement in the US, the Vietnam War protests and the Paris student riots
in 1968, the Philippine student populace suddenly showed an activism
35
Abbas
unknown since then. The youth had the hippie movement with the slogan
make love not war. Womens liberation movement (Ban the Bra!) was
on the upswing. Philippine politics was filled with rumors or threats of the
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus or the declaration of Martial Law.
There was a clamor to change the Constitution. Amidst all these events,
nobody seemed to have time for censorship.
The Bomba
36
Womans Body Power
of the father, death of the second child, blackmailed by the ex-lover, thrown
out of the house by the husband, etc. She lived in constant fear and shame. In
Tunay na Ina, the woman is absolutely powerless in the world ruled by men
(Del Mundo, 1998).
In 1970, the movie Uhaw revolutionized the film industry by going
against prevailing cinematic codes. In this film, the adulterous affair was
consummated. Sex became the empowering mode for the liberated woman.
The audience, mostly male, was fed with 10 sex scenes. Plus, there was a
naked run along the main Manila thoroughfare (Avenida Rizal) by its lead
actress, Merle Fernandez.
Understandably, Philippine movie industry was never the same again
after this filmic experience.
Many writers assert that films, like other mass media, can or do in
fact construct future realities. Douglas Kellner (2000) says: Hollywood
films, like US society, should be seen as a contested terrain and films could
be interpreted as a struggle of representation of how to construct a social
world and everyday life. This, of course, comes from the Marxist theorists
like Louis Althusser who in particular says that the states superstructure
(social organization) creates ideology and what the citizens believe in. Film,
as part of mass media, is one of the ideological state apparatuses (Littlejohn,
1999). Beller (2000: 14) writes: The films are machines which can be
utilized to bring that alternate future into being. It cannot be denied that the
Sexual Revolution of the late 60s to early 70s brought progressive changes in
the West and the death of censorship. Films were arguably the most effective
tools in the sexual revolution.
In the US, the fight against censorship went hand in hand with the
fight against racial discrimination, against involvement in Vietnam, the
struggle for consumer rights, the womens equal rights, and eventually
human rights. Seemingly innocuous films like Valley of the Dolls (1967) and
the Lady Chatterleys Lover (1955) started the fight against censorship. The
Sexual Revolution was quite long-drawn with numerous court battles.
In France, life after the 1968 Paris riots was drastically changed.
French conservatism, as exemplified by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, eventually
gave way to more progressive ideas, which paved the way for a Socialist
37
Abbas
38
Womans Body Power
Theoretical Background
39
Abbas
presides over its development, and organizes its practice (Foucault, 1986:
43). In ancient times this was often understood to involve a cultivation of
the soul (45). In earlier times this was a matter of self-mastery, but over the
course of history it became more a matter of learning to shape ones own
inner character (67).
The following sex melodrama films, with sex workers as central
characters, are selected to analyze power discourses and how the protagonists
practice Foucaults technologies or care of the self .
41
Abbas
Queen of a big club. Although she agreed to be a mistress, she faced squarely
the rich mans wife when they (Angela and her sugar daddy) were caught
together in the beach. Raymundos Angela does not suffer from inferiority
complex or self-pity. This sex worker has self-respect.
For leaving the rich man (portrayed by Ricky Belmonte), she was
punished. Angela was shot by the bodyguard. But she did not die. The one
who died was her convict ex-boyfriend and father of her child who escaped
from prison in order to kill her. He ended up killing the man who shot
Angela and was shot in turn by the gunmans companion. The authorities,
upon the confession of the surviving bodyguard, arrested the sugar daddy.
To celebrate her freedom, she returns to stripdancing. She practically
swears: Sasayaw ako hanggang kaya pa ng katawan ko. (I will dance as long
as my strength allows.) The last scene shows her again in a striptease
routine, with the last scene freezing her naked body for the viewers erotic
contemplation (Mulvey, 1975).
Woman Power
42
Womans Body Power
The only character left that the male audience could identify with was
the passive taxi driver character, a harmless Everyman who would be a poor
candidate for a male audiences fantasy hero.
Red Diaries
Red Diaries (2001) is a take-off from Zalman Kings Red Shoe Diaries
series, which were themselves spin-offs from the Wild Orchid films. This
Maryo J. de los Reyes film is a trilogy with sex as the central theme. The
various filmic themes of the sex melodrama genre are explored here. The
first story, Susana, is about a sex worker or more specifically, a callgirl who
became a mistress. The second, Cara, is about the loss of sexual innocence,
while the third, Lucila, is about rape and domestic abuse. All three stories
starred Assunta de Rossi.
This article is concerned only with the first story in the trilogy. Susana
is a callgirl. Practically all sex workers dream of being a mistress or as what is
known in Manilas street language as ginagarahe (parked [like a car]). Unlike
in Burlesk Queen, Ngayon and in most sex worker-themed films, Susana is not
concerned with pecuniary matters. She is more concerned about giving
love. Shes a femme fatale with a heart. Her power over men is that she
knows that as a mistress, she must be a different woman for different men.
She is so confident in her sexual prowess that she thought she could cure an
old mans impotence through sex. The old man (played by Dante Rivero)
nearly died.
In this film, the wives, too, have extra-marital affairs. They do it with
their chauffeurs. In fact, they have sex (with the chauffeurs) right in their
cars just like teenagers. The film centers on a foursome a rich couple
(played by Dante Rivero and Pilar Pilapil), their driver (played by Anton
Bernardo) and Dantes recently dead brothers mistress (played by Assunta).
Assunta soon became Dantes querida (mistress) and at the same time Antons
girlfriend. Anton is the querido (lover boy) of Pilar. But, then, this foursome
sexual paradise could not last forever.
In the binaries of bio-power, sex is either licit or illicit, permitted
or forbidden. (Foucault 1978: 83) Once the forbidden relationships are
discovered, they have to be disciplined. It is quite unfortunate that in the
history of sexuality, the authoritys power is negative, i.e., the power that
says no (Gordon, 1981: 139). It is a power that says something cannot be
43
Abbas
done and it acts to enforce this law. Adultery and concubinage are crimes
punishable by law.
Again, sexual power relations are deeply connected to monetary
power relations the power of the rich over the poor. Even an invalid like
rich man Dante Rivero can have sexual power over Assunta, a professional
querida.
Assunta and Anton know that the only way to have power over the
rich folks is through their bodies. But they are not despondent about it.
On the contrary, they like their bodies and their sexuality. And they use the
technologies of the Self to better themselves.
Tikim
Tikim (2001) was written and directed by Jose Javier Reyes. All the
actors/actresses Rodel Velayo, Leonardo Litton, Allan Paule, Paula Gomez,
and even Maureen Mauricio are staples of sex film genre. The title Tikim is
also one of the badges of a sex film naughty, with sexual connotations. But
the film is only a light melodrama, with a dose of action.
Tikim opens with a jaded narrator, omniscient, and only as voice-over.
The female lead character is a sex worker (portrayed by Barbara Milano),
girlfriend of the lead male character (played by Rodel Velayo). Here, sex
is fun. The first scenes had Paula Gomez doing fellatio on her boyfriend,
Litton, while Milano was having sex with a client even as the telephone was
ringing.
The body is acknowledged as an instrument of power. Milano, the
sex worker, is proud of her body. She says, Malinis ang katawan ko. Maski
anong parte puwede mong simutin (My body is clean. You can even taste every
part of it). Her boyfriend says, Dapat lang. Yan ang pinagkakikitaan mo (It
should be. Thats where you make a living). No recriminations there, just
statements of fact. The women (Milano and Gomez) are even shown as
having more libidinal urges than the men (Velayo and Litton).
Maureen Mauricio, one of the most popular PENEkula stars, was
featured in a cameo role. (PENEkula is coined from penetration and the
Tagalog word for film, pelikula. Movies classified as penekula had actual sex
scenes, not simulated ones for the camera.) In Tikim, Mauricio looks like
an ordinary matron, already plump and retired from the profession. Yet
she is proud of her expertise. She blames men for preferring young girls
44
Womans Body Power
rather than the more experienced ones like her. Milano, her inaanak (god
daughter), tells her that she too wants to be magaling (good) in her work and
that she remains her (Milanos) idol. Mauricio and Milano give the image of
people happy with their decision of using their bodies for the good of the
Self.
Boatman
In 1984, the eras top movie sex symbol, Sarsi Emanuelle, played
opposite a newcomer, Ronnie Lazaro in the movie Boatman. Again, power
is depicted through the difference in social classes. The male protagonist,
Felipe (played by Lazaro), comes from the peasantry and works as a canoe
steersman in the Pagsanjan rapids, a famous tourist spot. He dreams of
becoming a movie star.
When a movie company comes to town to shoot a film, the Japanese
leading lady picks him out among the movie extras for a one-night stand.
The lady also gives him a walkman as a token of her appreciation and
as a reward for his sexual prowess. He goes to Manila to seek greener
pasture. The only job available for him is that of a torero, a performer in a live
sex show. Toro is the local euphemism for live sex show (the word actually
refers to wild bulls). Here, he meets his partner in the act, Gigi (Sarsi
Emanuelle), a tough, no-nonsense woman.
Unlike ordinary Filipinos steeped in Catholic sexual angst, Felipe
and Gigi are not ashamed of their work. They think of it as a profession,
with their bodies as the instruments. Sex may be the original sin for their
countrymen, but for them, sex is their way out of Hell (poverty) and on to
Redemption (wealth).
Gigi, the veteran torera, teaches Felipe how to perform the toro, leading
him through the various sexual positions. Through their bodies, Felipe and
Gigi, started making good money via the live shows and betamax (video)
productions. But in their sexual paradise comes the Snake-Temptress in the
form of an American producer, querida (mistress) of a powerful Filipino don.
Our provincial Adam (Felipe) is naturally tempted by the white rich lady
who gives him strict rules to follow so as not to incur the wrath of the
Master (portrayed by Eddie Arenas). The American makes it very clear that
their sexual relationship is forbidden (by the powers that be) and, therefore,
should remain a secret.
45
Abbas
But Felipe is drunk with his sexual power. He keeps repeating to his
Eve (Gigi) and to the Temptress that he can take care of himself. Alas, mere
mortal peasants are no match for the Olympian elites. And so, for the sin
of flaunting an unholy sexual relationship between a peasant man and a lady
of the elite class, an American at that, there can only be one punishment:
castration. The individual body may be an instrument of power, but the body
politic insures that the dominant class will remain dominant.
Having read the film contextually, we must now situate the film
historically. It was produced in 1984 during the final years of the Marcos
dictatorship. Senator Beningno Ninoy Aquino had been assassinated and a
large sector of the urban populace was demonstrating in the streets against
the regime. Majority of the Filipinos woke up from the slumber brought
about by the fear of martial rule. The millions who came to Ninoys funeral
realized they were not as weak as they thought.They, too, have power body
power, warm bodies, power in numbers.
Sexually, the government had a change of heart. Martial Law was
declared (in 1972) not only to fight the Moro and communist rebels but
also to fight pornography. Ten years later, the government hosted the Manila
International Film Festival which showed explicit films like Oshimas In the
Realm of the Senses. The Experimental Cinema of the Philippines (ECP) was
established in 1982 through Executive Order No. 770. This law guaranteed
the ECP freedom from censorship.
From 1972 until 1982, Filipino films were constrained in their
sexuality. The successors to the Bomba tradition had to content themselves
with the Parental Guidance (PG)-rated wet look or bold variety. Then
all of a sudden, the paternalistic dictatorship declared that sex was okay.
In fact, the government itself produced sex films like Virgin People (1984),
Naiibang Hayop (1984), and even Boatman. Perhaps the prevailing situation
at the time convinced the filmmakers that the characters in Boatman should
also feel comfortable and even proud of their sexuality. Sex, instead of being
censored, was now being peddled by the government. Time, certainly, was
a-changing.
The dictatorship might have changed its mind about sex, but there was
now a clamor for censorship among the Church, the old elite (the oligarchy
supplanted by the Marcos cronies), and even the political opposition which
included the Leftists and the Liberals. Although it could be argued that the
Leftists and the Liberals clamored for Censorship at that time only for the
46
Womans Body Power
sake of opposing the Dictatorship, the milieu must have been confusing to
many Filipinos.
Perhaps because of this situation, plus the fact that the film producer
was the State itself, which expected obedience and did not tolerate
autonomous bodies, Boatmans protagonists had to be punished.
Gigi, the torera was punished for his relationship with Felipe. The
American querida was punished for transgressing the rules, for crossing the
divide between the ruling class and the ruled. For Felipe, who challenged
the social order, the harshest of the disciplinary technologies is called to
action. And what better way to punish a phallocentric individual than to
remove his phallus?
Not all Philippine sex melodramas, with sex workers as the main
protagonists, show empowered male and female sex workers. While
illegitimate children and mistresses have risen to the highest echelons
of Philippine society, the majority of the films still portrays illicit sex as
disempowering, morally wrong and disapproved by society. In Philippine
mainstream films, sex workers are usually women who are portrayed as
weak, and who hate their jobs.
Perhaps the most controversial Philippine sex melodrama film is Toro
(Live Show). Toro is almost the exact opposite of Boatman. While Boatman
was State-produced and promoted, Toro (2000) was State-persecuted. Both
dealt with the lives of sex workers who live in the margins of society. Both
contained graphic sex scenes. Both were shown in international film festivals
Boatman in London where it won the Best Film Award and Toro in Berlin.
But they are as different as heaven and hell.
In Boatman, there is a sense of optimism. Protagonists apply the
technologies of the Self (Foucault, 1978) and try to make the best possible
world within societal constraints. Of course, in the end, Felipe, Gigi and
the American querida were punished but not because of empowering
themselves but because of transgressing rules of the social order. As sex
workers, Felipe and Gigi had hope, self-respect, and aspirations and had the
capacity to empower themselves through their sexuality.
On the other hand, in Toro, the protagonists were doomed from the
start. The narrator/lead protagonist was full of pessimism. Because of his
47
Abbas
job a torero the Toro protagonist was full of shame and considered himself
bad. He kept on defending himself by saying, Whats the point of being
good? He is the exact opposite of Felipe and Gigi, who did not consider
themselves bad.
Toros director, Jose Javier Reyes, spoke at the 50th Berlin International
Film Festival where his film was shown. He said that Toro was a statement
about human beings trapped by circumstance not of their own making and
powers not of their choice (Demetrio III, 2001).
Filipino sex melodramas usually have this framework sex workers,
especially females, are victims of circumstance and totally powerless.
Foucaults technology of the Self says otherwise and the four films analyzed
above reflect this Foucauldian thesis.
Ironically, Boatman was produced by an authoritarian State but gives
the message that the marginalized individuals can improve themselves, as
long as they do not go too far. On the other hand, the privately produced
Toro dis-empowers the marginalized folks. They cannot even use their only
resource with a marketable demand their bodies sexuality, because that
would be, in the words of the Toro director, the ultimate human degradation
(Demetrio III, 2001). They are, therefore, condemned to their lot (poverty)
without any hope for Redemption.
Conclusion
From the sex melodramas studied, women characters are not mere
objects of desire of both the male characters and male audience. Women
characters are active and are the movers of the narrative. They are not mere
victims of circumstance; they take advantage of whatever resources they
have in order to better themselves and their circumstance.
Foucault (1984) said that there may be a knowledge of the body that
is not exactly the science of its functioning, and a mastery of its forces that
is more than the ability to conquer them:
This knowledge and this mastery constitute what might
be called the political technology of the body. Of
course, this technology is diffuse, rarely formulated in
continuous, systematic discourse; it is often made up
of bits and pieces; it implements a disparate set of tools
or methods. In spite of the coherence of its results, it
48
Womans Body Power
49
Abbas
Notes
1
For those interested in the 1968 riots, read Daniel Singers essay 1968 Revisited:
Be Realistic, Ask for the Impossible in New Politics (Summer 2000) or his book
Prelude to Revolution: France in May 1968 (1970, 2000) Cambridge: South End Press
2
Keratsa (2005) quotes Crespo Itziar (1999) who described Francos relationship
with censorship succinctly: Cultural censorship played a vital role in Francos
regime. It was perhaps the most effective element of the dictatorship, without
which Franco would not have been able to control Spanish society.
References
50
Womans Body Power
51
Abbas
Motion Pictures
_____________________
Jamal Ashley Abbas has an M.A. in Media Studies (Film), and is a former
lecturer at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication
on Communication and Film and at Kalayaan College (Communication and
Journalism). He is a Media Studies / Communications consultant, a freelance
writer, has a film column (Quantum Cinema) in Mr. & Ms. Magazine and one of the
winners of the Gawad Kalinangan Journalism Award 2001 of the Manila Rotary
Club.
52
Tear the Box: Deconstructing
Sexualized Portrayals of Women
in Idol Ko si Kap and Lagot Ka
Isusumbong Kita!1
Joeven R. CASTRO
DESPITE the popularity of the feminist movement and our countrys having
had two women presidents (Ms. Corazon Aquino and the incumbent Ms.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo), the treatment of women as sex objects goes
on blatantly on Philippine Television, specifically on the television genre
situational comedies or sitcoms. Hence, critical eyes must zoom in, so to
speak, on such shows so that a discourse on deconstructing its infamous
examples of sexualized portrayals may be reframed.
This article analyzes the apparently indissoluble marriage between
comedy and sexualized portrayals in the sitcoms Idol Ko Si Kap2 (from June
19 to September 18, 2004) and Lagot KaIsusumbong Kita!3 (from April 19
54
Tear the Box
55
Castro
Their goal was to have physical contact with her. Although an unspoken rule,
who hugged her best seemed to have won the competition.
Males also exerted authority or power over another person perceived
as inferior to them to consummate sexual advances. For example, the male
characters of Lagot Ka (August 16) kissed and hugged the female character
playing the role of a housemaid applicant, which is a strange act for employers
to commit.
There was also a double standard showing that males and sexual
advances were mutually exclusive. Males unquestioningly allowed themselves
to be hugged by pretty females. However, when less attractive females
tried to do sexual advances on them they grimaced to show displeasure or
they ran away from what was depicted as aggression or harassment (Idols
September 18). The less attractive female appeared so desperate evinced by
her statement, Gusto ko ngang bastusin nya ako! (I want him to take advantage
of me!)
Although an isolated instance in Lagot Kas August 2 episode, the idea
of women as possession warrants analysis due to its negative implications.
Aleck Bovick, guest wife in the episode, infuriated her husband and mainstay
character Joey Marquez for leaving him after falling in love with Wendell
Ramos, another guest. Joey hounded them like crazed Roman warriors who
were running after Helen and Paris up to the lands of Troy.When Joey finally
caught them, he said, Sige payag na akong mapunta ka kay Paris pero pwede ba
sa akin ka muna ng isang gabi? (All right, I will allow you to be with Paris but
can you be mine for one night?)
True, the extramarital affair of Aleck Bovick was somehow suggested
as unacceptable, but when Joey Marquez was in simultaneous romance with
two guests Phoemela Barranda and Alma Moreno (Lagot Kas July 12), he was
not nailed for his promiscuity. The women even waited for Joey to choose
who deserved him. It was a stark demonstration of the overriding double
standard privileging males.
Sexualized jokes dominantly acted out by male characters in sitcoms
reinforce the stereotype that women have only superficial physical beauty. In
the two sitcoms of GMA 7, jokes usually diverted the gag from the situation
or story itself to the females breasts. The pun could arouse curiosity by
inducing the audience or male characters in the scene to gaze upon the jokers
object or referent (Idols June 19, June 26, July 17, July 24, September 18;
Lagot Kas May 10, June 21, June 28, & July 12 episodes). In effect, this
56
Tear the Box
57
Castro
colonizers for over 300 years (personal communication, April 28, 2005).
Overthrowing Spanish regime was initially difficult and prohibited; hence,
some Filipinos penned patriotic literatures as indirect communication
tools to avoid persecution. Similarly, since public discussion of sex is taboo
(Montenegro, 1996) more especially on national television, an indirect
approach (euphemism) seemed to be the best way to prevent prompt
censorship.
A passive female character completes the stereotyped image of a sex
object. Eleven out of 13 episodes in Idol, while nine out of 17 episodes in
Lagot Ka did not give female characters a chance to reply significantly.
Even if the male characters gaze made its object look uncomfortable, and
despite the unnecessary sexual advances and deprecating humor, the female
characters reacted passively by (1) keeping quiet, or being indifferent to
the malicious gaze cast at her and not even attempting to cover her exposed
cleavage; and (2) by smiling or laughing.
In almost all of the two sitcoms episodes, there was an absence of
penalty on malicious male gazers, thus, prompting them to become bolder
in repeating the sexualized offense.
While some female characters actively replied (Idols June 26,
August 7, August 14, September 18 episodes; Lagot Kas May 10 and August
16 episodes), their retorts were weak and had no impact.
Award-winning actress Ara Mina, for example, was irritated (Lagot Kas
August 16 episode) when the males kissed her immediately upon entry to the
scene. She knitted her eyebrows and folded her arms to protect her breasts
but she did not utter a single word of disgust or censure. Her nonverbal
opposition must have been hardly noticeable to uncritical viewers.
Sexy starlet Cherry Lou, a guest in Idols August 7 episode, strongly
expressed restraint when mainstay character Leo Martinez roughly grabbed
her when she refused to seduce him. She immediately replied, Huwag mo
nga akong hawakan! (Dont hold me!) then slapped Leo before leaving. Leo
saved himself from embarrassment, proceeded to hold the back of a chair
and made a push-pull movement that implied the sexual act.
Even the main character portrayed by Rufa Mae Quinto was incapable
of explicitly opposing a sexualized portrayal (Idols June 19 episode). Joey
Marquez, playing the role of an electrician, gazed upon her breasts and
blurted: Kaya kong kalikutin iyan! (I can fix that!). She replied, Nagtanggal
ka pa ng salamin, ha! (You even removed your eyeglasses, huh!). Rufa Maes
58
Tear the Box
feedback did not stop Joey but even goaded him to gaze at her breast harder.
Instead of responding, Bakit mo tinitingnan ang dibdib ko? (Why are you
looking at my breast?), she simply described Joeys action. She legitimized
the gaze, in a way, by failing to question the act.
On June 26, when Leo Martinez, Jimmy Santos, and AntonioAcquitania
bumped Rufa Mae to achieve physical contact, she replied, Binangga nyo,
ah! (You bumped it). She merely restated the males action. There was no
explicit objection. She could have said, Bakit nyo ako binangga?!(Why did
you bump me?) to require explanation from the males. As a result, they
repeated the bumping scene. Her subsequent response was a smile.
Supporting character Alicia Mayer also replied less passively (Lagot
Kas May 10 episode) when Raymart Santiago requested her to massage him
and promised to give her an increase. Alicia declined and said, I dont need
an increase! while gesturing a chest-out position. Here, it was the female
character that rattled off the sexualized joke by putting a different color to
the word increase to mean bust size augmentation.
59
Castro
connection while men are concerned mainly with status. However, Wetzel
et al (1993) pointed out, It is the females inherently interpersonal,
interdependent, affiliative natureher affectionateness and her orientation
toward other peoplethat underlies her greater vulnerability. During
conflicts, females can become very emotional that they think less critically
and alertly. In the sitcoms, this emotional state was an opportunity for
the male characters to take advantage of their female counterparts. Men
cheered up the depressed women while visually feasting on their breasts
or consummating other sexual advances.
There is also a strong-weak dichotomy that has legitimized men to
wield the power to protect women from harm. Susan Griffin (in Eisenstein,
1983) termed this male heroism as the male protection racket or the
supposed safety net against rape. Usually perpetrated by some male rapists,
it is a sexual assault that violates femininity to the highest degree. Rape,
thus, is a dreaded threat that justifies female dependence on men to avert
the fear.
Unfortunately, female fear is a state of mind manipulated by men so
they can commit sexual advances on women. Guest Juliana Palermo in Lagot
Kas May 17 episode, for example, trusted her bodyguards but they eventually
did sexual advances by tossing her like a ball from one lap to another. No
sequence or dialogue punished these protectors-turned-violators. The only
excuse for this breach of trust is the idea that males are anyway socialized as
sexually liberated and aggressive.
Several episodes showed a group of male characters racing towards
a female to actualize a sexualized portrayal. The rush is a form of sexual
competition among them because (1) there are competitors, (2) there is a
common goal, and (3) there is a prize.
Physical contact is the prize. Males compete among themselves with
the orchestrated goal of having sexual attempts not really because the woman
is desirable but because of peer pressure to prove mens heterosexuality.
From this experience emerged another definition of sex objects as pursuits
of male conquest who are not to be taken seriously (Stockhard, 1992). Men
may not necessarily desire a woman but they simply want to horse around
her. Horsing around someone connotes that the woman is not to be taken
seriously, which again strengthens the description of a sex object. It reveals
how men can devalue the sexy or visually desirable prize. A man who values
a woman disallows other men to act like her predators. He will heighten
60
Tear the Box
61
Castro
62
Tear the Box
63
Castro
Notes
1
The article is an excerpt of the first level of analysis of the authors masters thesis
Political Economic Analysis of the Visual Prostitution of Women in Idol Ko si Kap and Lagot
KaIsusumbong Kita!
2
Idol Ko si Kap was a defunct situational comedy aired every Saturday on GMA 7,
one of the leading networks in the country. The male lead character in the sitcom
was portrayed by Ramon Bong Revilla who happens to be one of the elected
senators of the country. His love interest in the sitcom was Rufa Mae Quinto
(Vivian). Every episode, Kap (Bong Revilla) settles disputes, misunderstandings
or any unscrupulous act usually perpetrated by Leo Martinez (Attorney) and
his cohorts. The supporting cast was Antonio Aquitania (Tonying), Jimmy Santos
(Laki) and German Moreno (Kagawad Moreno) as members of the barangay police.
Kap was idolized in the sitcom because of his honesty and for being a responsible
brother of Goyong and Katarina Perez and son of Luz Valdez (Nanay Idang). K
Brosas played the role of Vivians best friend and Tonyings avid suitor. Bryan
Revilla was Attorneys son. In this article, Idol was used for brevity.
3
Lagot KaIsusumbong Kita! is another defunct GMA sitcom, and it had a male-
dominated cast led by Richard Gomez (Ric), Joey Marquez (Tsong), Benjie Paras
(Junior) and Raymart Santiago (Toto). On each Monday episode, the show tackled
one personal problem of one male character. The all-male siblings had singer Pilita
Corales as their mother (Mamita) who always reminded the boys about character
and values. The supporting cast was an affluent family headed by Miss Vangie
(Madam Tusha) and her sexy and beautiful female children, namely, Alicia Mayer
(Sussy), Maureene Larrazabal (Tisay), and Nancy Castiliogne, all of whom acted as
the males love interests. For brevity, the sitcom is referred to as Lagot Ka in this
article.
4
The GMA Network, Inc. (2004) claims to be the leading broadcast company in the
Philippines given its wide reach actualized by its 46 fully owned satellite stations,
and other advanced facilities costing US$4 million.
References
Cruz, M. M. (1990). Comparative study of the role and image of the Filipino
woman as portrayed in our local television sitcoms and the Filipinas
perception of her role and image in Philippine society. Unpublished thesis,
University of the Philippines, Diliman.
David, R. S. (2002). Nation, self and citizenship: An invitation to Philippine sociology.
Quezon City: Department of Sociology, College of Social Sciences and
Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
64
Tear the Box
Dela Cruz, P. S. (1988). Images of women in Philippine media: From virgin to vamp.
Malate: Asia Social Institute.
Diego, C. (1997). Palibhasa lalake: A close textual analysis. Unpublished thesis,
University of the Philippines, Diliman.
Digby, T. (Ed.). (1998). Men doing feminism. London: Routledge.
Dyer, R. (2002). Only entertainment (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Eisenstein, H. (1983). Contemporary feminist thought. Boston: G.K. Hall and
Company.
Fiske, J. (1987). Television culture. London: Routledge.
GMA Network, Inc. (2004). About GMA Network. Retrieved August 20, 2005,
from http://www.igma.tv.corp about.php.
Griffin, E. (2000). A rst look at communication theory. USA: McGraw-Hill.
Horowitz, S. (1997). Queens of comedy: Lucille Ball, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Joan
Rivers, and the new generation of funny women. Netherlands: Gordon and Breach
Science Publishers.
Medina, B. (1991). The Filipino family. Quezon City: UP Press.
Montenegro, C. F. (1996). An exploratory study of male and female language
in Pilipino. In M. L. S. Bautista (Ed.), Readings in Philippine sociolinguistics.
Manila: DLSU Press.
Paz, C., Hernandez, V. & Peneyra, I. (2003). Ang pag-aaral ng wika. Quezon City:
UP Press.
Stockhard, J. (1992). Sex and gender in society (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Wetzel, J. et al. (1993). Womens Studies:Thinking women. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt.
_____________________
Joeven Rosario Castro is an Associate Professor in the FEU Department of
Communication while working as freelance writer in management and financial
consultancy firms and communication competence trainer in various academic
and corporate settings. He finished his bachelors degree in FEU (magna cum
laude) and his MA in Broadcast Communication in University of the Philippines,
Diliman. He has traveled in Southeast Asia as an adjudicator, debater, and coach of
the Oratorical and Debate Council (ORADEC), where he was awarded as one of
the Best Adjudicators in the 2nd Asian Universities Debate Championships. Currently,
he is the National Secretary of the Speech Communication Organization of the
Philippines (SCOP).
65
Filipino Women on the Cover
of Cosmopolitan Magazine
IT SEEMS NATURAL that there are two genders in this world: male and
female. What is unnatural about it though is that through the years the
gender dichotomy has become hierarchical. Between the two genders exist
a dominant-subordinate relationship with men at the top.
Womens subordination can be found in a public space, such as the
media. Mananzan (1998: 170) elucidates that during the introduction of
Catholicism by the Spaniards, laws and mores were imposed and those
impositions restricted women from choosing the roles they would like to
play. Instead, women were confined to observe a religious fervor bordering
on fanaticism. This focus on religion made patriarchy succeed in alienating
the woman from her public life, public decisions, and public significance.
She should henceforth be a delicate ornament of the home or the victim of
the convent.
The new role was contrary to what women had in the pre-colonial
era: they served as the principal instrument of the native culture and
power, more or less hidden, which moves and directs the man in his public
life and is the one who really controls domestic society (158).
67
Go, Maxion, Sy & Racoma
men and their respective traits and behaviors in society (Renzetti, 1992:
2-3).
Mass media mirror this social stratification and its consequential
practices over the years have become favorable to men. Loevingers (1996)
Reflective-Projective Theory postulated that mass media reflect various
ambiguous images, which each observer projects or relates to his/her own
vision of self. Either accurate or distorted, these images are censored to
satisfy a large segment of the public. Mass media attempt to avoid becoming
too offensive or uninteresting to avoid losing their influential status.
The audience is composed of individuals with individual views of
media. The common denominator is their invariable flattery and fascination
over pictures or images where they see or hear themselves represented
(Loevinger, 1996). The preferred representations are also socially
embedded.
68
Filipino Women on the Cover
Angel Locsin
69
Go, Maxion, Sy & Racoma
Kristine Hermosa
70
Filipino Women on the Cover
Toni Gonzaga
71
Go, Maxion, Sy & Racoma
72
Filipino Women on the Cover
genes. Asked why they were practically obsessed with having fairer skin,
they unanimously replied that they had come to believe that to be maputi
(fair-skinned) is beautiful.
In terms of facial features, they particularly criticized Kristines
perfectly chiseled nose due to excessive computer manipulation.
Discussant Raica said that perhaps, the Filipinos desire for Caucasian
image is one of the Filipinos legacies from Spain and the United States
America. On the other hand, Camille blurted out: Anything of Western
spirit sells in the Philippines!
Body Poses. Pammy, a part-time model herself, said that the
actresses stances were a signature Cosmo stance. The hands always placed
either at the waist or the hip area connoted a daring character.
Raica, on the other hand, concluded that Locsins pose was a typical
male stance. Claire commented on Gonzagas leg skin exposure: Well,
thats an attempt to make her appear sexy!
All four discussants agreed that the almost similar stances varied only
in the angular direction and hand placement, but they all connoted an image
of boldness or firmness.Their stance exuded confidence according to Camille
while Raica believed it was more alluring. Pammy added, Indeed, body
language speaks louder than words, as if screaming, Come and get me!
The discussants questioned the accuracy of the portrayals. Claire
argued:
Its like theyre setting a standard to be followedThey
capitalize on the fact that such a portrayal could never
be achieved and that impossibility is what makes those
people behind that magazine filthy rich! Logically, the
quest for achieving that look will never end, it will never
get saturated, so girls will always buy make-up, fancy
clothes, and go under the knife just to get as close as
possible to those images.
Camille agreed that the front-cover portrayals were standardizing
tools that direct their audience to imitate the look, following the principles
of commercialism, colonialism, and sex.
Raica asserted that these women were just mental creations that aimed
to view women under the lenses of perfection. She believed that the women
were too good to be true. She quipped, Actually, theyre all looking like
plastic dolls! Soon a line of plastic dolls shall be named after them!
73
Go, Maxion, Sy & Racoma
Representing the creative team, the associate editor and art director
said that Filipino women today are stressed by variants of womens images.
Betita-Samson pointed out that the world has become more dynamic; thus,
several options are presented to women. The options placed Filipinas in a
situation in which her traditional world conflicts with the modern world.
According to the magazines associate editor, the traditional perspective
based on an FGD with several female Filipino readers of Cosmo is that women
still concern themselves with family issues while maintaining interest at
the same time on international and local fashion designers. Betita-Samson
elaborated:
Filipino women want to be modern but theyre still
stuck to this traditional culture, so I think they are very
ambivalent today. The Filipino woman doesnt know
where to really position herself. She wants to have sex
freely without judgment and she knows she can. But, at
the same time she cant because of what her mom would
say, her friends would say, what her lola (grandmother)
would say.
Both the associate editor and the art director admitted that the
traditional perspective on Filipinas is a result of the patriarchal society. They
admitted having a reader who emailed them to ask what she should do after
her boyfriend disallowed her to wear mini-skirt. De Leon said she has been
receiving letters of the same theme for five years already. Ideally, a guy
doesnt have shouldnt have the right to tell you what to wear and not to
wear, but the fact that our readers actually ask, means its happening... its a
concern, she further explained.
Within this socio-cultural context and the presence of many womens
magazines, they said that Cosmo strived to emerge by having a relevant
personality that readers can learn and share first-hand experiences from.
According to De Leon, the target audiences psychographic profile is a
person who is still in the age of developing self, finding out aspirations,
improving self, and still trying out certain things.
Given Cosmos tagline, fun, fearless, females, its creative team
promotes Filipino women who love to have fun with friends, boyfriend, and
family. According to De Leon, it also encourages fearless Filipino women to
74
Filipino Women on the Cover
try out things even if it is taboo. A Cosmo woman also has enough courage
to do something you might not be comfortable with or you might not be
completely good at.
What makes Cosmo succeed worldwide, according to Betita-Samson,
is its discussion on relationships, acting as a big sister or friend of its readers
on issues like career, sex, health, men, and love.
To complete the total package of success, the front cover is also
carefully created. According to them, a weekly discussion is devoted to
determine the cover celeb as they called it. She could not just be anyone
else, but someone that readers could easily identify with. Ideally, she is very
popular, has a good image, and an example of a fun, fearless female. She
could be an upcoming star and Cosmo will introduce her to the world.
The magazines creative team decides practically every aspect of the
cover celebrity, from the clothes, make-up, accessories, facial expressions,
and even to her poses.They present the female celebrity so that she becomes
more marketable and she matches the branding of Cosmo. Betita-Samson
shared that cover celebs are known worldwide for the following standard
look:
Its really three-fourths a little below the crotch, shot
above the knee, and always as much as possible frontal
The woman always looks at the reader because this is the
strongest stance. The stance is always sexy and strong.
The arm, basta hindi yung nakaka-abala (doesnt get in the
way) in viewing the clothes. We try to make sure that the
readers see everything.
Another standard is the big hair, hair that you can touch.
Hindi nakatali, hindi naka-spray net (Not tied, not made
stiff by hair spray). No hats, no headbands. It is meant
to be soft, sexy hair. And then, the cleavage. Lastly, that
sexy stance.
The chosen cover photo is sent for approval to the United States,
which tells the local franchise the needed adjustments. The image branding
is maintained by 56 franchises all over the world because it has been tried
and tested, according to De Leon. If youre not afraid to show some skin,
theres a certain confidence and fearlessness, she elaborated. Moreover, she
said it conveys realness, a real girl wearing real clothes except the cover
celebrities eyes, which were made lighter by the computer because Filipino
75
Go, Maxion, Sy & Racoma
Synthesis
76
Filipino Women on the Cover
eyes, long hair, thin lips, jutted-out chests, and slim body garbed in sexy,
provocative, and glamorous outfitin the front covers of a magazine with
a growing circulation tends to ignore the beauty of a Filipino woman. By
looking like a Barbie Doll, the image of a Filipino woman is distorted, all in
the name of sales.
These Westernized women in terms of physical and psychological
profiles are used to attract a large number of magazine readers. The
commodification strengthens the capitalist interest as readers might
constantly spend money to look like the cover celebrity. As Naomi Wolf
(in Schuster & Van Pelt, 1996: 354) stressed, Society imposes an idealistic,
unreasonable standard of beauty on all women, a standard that leads women
to starve themselves, wear unhealthy shoes and impractical clothing, buy
millions of dollars of cosmetics, and even submit themselves to unnecessary
surgery
Based on the focus group discussion, the four discussants unanimously
believed that majority of the photo details were distorted, unrealistic, and
unattainable. They reaffirmed that such photos with smiling, all made-up,
and beautiful women, although seemingly benign and nonchalantly real,
were actually filled with malevolent anomalies.The manufactured inaccurate
and deceitful portrayals will become an elusive dream of women in real life.
According to them, it suggested a concept of beauty for the Filipino female
audience to copy.
This practice supports Halls idea of hegemony defined as a
preponderant influence or authority, especially one nation over another
(in Griffin, 1991: 315). Cosmo readers may see and even imbibe over time
the magazines attitudes and perspectives. This is made possible through
the reinforcement of these attitudes and perspectives on the readers.
Conceding to Halls claim, Hegemony isnt merely reflected in the media,
its reinforced there... the real role of the media is production of consent
rather than reflection of consensus (in Griffin, 1991). The ideologies
attached to Cosmo can be reinforced when readers internalize its contents
and acknowledge them as realities. Viewpoints of Cosmo on Filipino women
are fun and fearless. This outlook may later on be taken in by readers as what
a Filipina is.
Women are objectified in the process. They are treated as objects
or mere designs that further beautify the magazines cover, which parallel
one stereotypical role assumed by the female gender: To decorate the male-
77
Go, Maxion, Sy & Racoma
78
Filipino Women on the Cover
References
Griffin, E. (1991). A rst look at communication theory. USA: McGraw-Hill.
Ingham, H. (1995). Portrayal of women on television. Retrieved September 30,
2006, from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/hzi9401.html
Jenkins, H. (2000). Reception theory and audience research: The mystery of the
vampires kiss. Retrieved September 26, 2006 http://web.mit.edu/cms/
people/henry3/vampkiss.html
Littlejohn, S. (1999). Theories of human communication (6th Ed). USA: Wadsworth.
Loevinger, L. (1996). The ambiguous mirror:The reective projective theory of broadcasting
and mass communications. Retrieved September 26, 2006, from http://learn-
gs.org/library/etc/26-3-loevinger.pdf
Mananzan, M. (1998). Challenges to the inner room: Selected essays and speeches by women
on women. Manila: Institute of Womens Studies, St. Scholasticas College.
Miller, K. (2002). Communication theories: Perspectives, processes, and contexts. Boston:
McGraw-Hill.
Nicolas, F., De Leon, J. & Luna, M.J. (Eds.). (1990). Women and media in the Asian
context: A collection of country reports and other presentations during the Asian sub-
regional conference on women and media. Quezon City: World Association for
Christian Communication.
Orbe, M. (1998). Constructing co-cultural theory: An explication of culture, power, and
communication. US: SAGE.
Radway, J. (1984). Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popular literature.
Chapel Hill: University of North California Press.
Renzetti, D. (1992). Women, men, and society (2nd ed). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Schuster, C. and Van Pelt, W. Speculations: Readings in culture, identity, and values, (2nd
ed). NJ: Prentice Hall.
Stockard, J. (1992). Sex and gender in society. NJ: Prentice Hall.
Summit Media. (2006). Cosmopolitan Magazine. Retrieved October 7, 2006,
www.summitmedia.com.ph/magazines/cosmopolitan.php
Wood, J. (1997). Communication in our lives. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Young, A. (n.d.).The negative portrayal of women. Retrieved September 30, 2006,
from http://atdpweb.soe.berkeley.edu/quest/Mind&Body/Portrayl.html
_____________________
This article is an excerpt of the 1st Communication Research Colloquiums Best Thesis
held in March 2007 at Far Eastern Universitys Department of Communication.
Gino Go (magna cum laude) is currently a domestic flight attendant of the Philippine
Airlines. He was an exchange student in Zhejiang Gongshang University, China
in 2006 together with Jellyn Maxion who is now based in the United States.
Joanna Sy and Edlenn Racoma are now working in a call center company.
79
Wives Voices: The Social
Construction of Wifehood
among Selected Muslim
and Christian Wives in Quiapo,
Manila
This interpersonal communication study probes on how Muslim and Christian wives
create, express, interpret, and negotiate their communicative interactions with their
husbands. It looks at how these wives came to construct the concept of being a wife
and how they felt it changed their lives. Grounded on Symbolic Interactionism, Social
Construction Theory, and Hermeneutics, the study reveals that Muslim and Christian
wives have various aspects of convergence using verbal communication, concept and
understanding of their roles as wives, and attitude towards and management of conict.
Husbands and wives dene their power positions in marital partnerships through
interaction and communication. Thus, a wife who negotiates gets more inuences,
although the issue of religion still dominates connubial affairs.
GENDER, today, is an issue that constantly comes to the fore between the
conflict of Muslims and Catholics. The dialectic does not rest on religious
wars or ideological conflicts between Muslims and Catholics. It centers on
politics of the home that cuts across both religions.
While society has changed and traditional gender roles have been
challenged, particularly in the West, questions concerning the role of
Muslim and Catholic women are being articulated as never before. In other
81
Figer & Cagadas
82
Wives Voices
83
Figer & Cagadas
Consequently, other people also treat everyday life as real. In fact, one
cannot exist in the everyday life without continually interacting and
communicating with others (Berger, 1967).
Berger and Luckmann (1967) held that reality is humanly produced
and constructed. But when realities have solidified in the social system, we
cannot easily recognize that they are human-made. People look at them
as natural and given, which are accepted as logical. Constructing realities
happens because people need to explain and justify social phenomena.
According to Gronbeck (1988), social construction of reality does not
only intend to rationalize the power of culture, but more on the mechanisms
of such power such as the processes of objectivation, institutionalization,
reification, legitimation, internationalization, and dialectic between self and
society.
Objectivation is the process by which external products of human
activity attain the character of objectivity (Berger, 1967). This is the period
when ideas gain autonomy and are no longer attributed to the persons or
party where they originate. Ideas, then, become an accepted reality, a social
fact, or simply, a commonsense.
Institutionalization occurs out of habitual actions. Berger and
Luckmann (1967) qualify that in order for an action to be institutionalized,
it must have existed for a long period of time. They also note that once
crystallized, institutions tend to become coercive to realities that impose
control over people.
Reification is the process by which people treat the ideas as tangible.
On the other hand, legitimation is the way people justify the ideas as correct
and practical.
Internalization is the phase in which human beings take realities as
their own when these realities become part of their consciousness. It is the
time when people practically breathe the ideas and feel that they may not
be able to survive in the social world without them.
Finally, when the social system and meaning-making process are in
place, the dialectic between the self and society occurs when an individual
ascribes a particular meaning to a social phenomenon through the use of
language. Hermeneutics, thus, elucidates how words and language have a
bearing on how people perceive the world. It is in language that all things
come into reality.
Martin Heidegger (in Littlejohn, 1999) believe that the reality of
84
Wives Voices
85
Figer & Cagadas
Wife in Patriarchy
The Bible mentions that God, after creating Adam presented him with
all the creatures in Eden. We are told that He asked him to name them and
that Adam did but among all creatures there was none like him. He was
saddened by this reality. This prompted God to give him the most beautiful
gift: Eve. The role of women came subsequently as a fulfillment of a deep-
seated, existential necessity for man. This then has become the function of
woman: to complete man, walk with, and cling to him to the end.
The Bible also orders women to obey their husbands and to submit
86
Wives Voices
87
Figer & Cagadas
88
Wives Voices
89
Figer & Cagadas
them. Lala (August 23, 2004), one participant said, It is like home.
Muslim wives, on the other hand, considered verbal communication
ideal at home because of the following advantages and characterizations:
a. It does not tend to express several possible meanings when one
has expressed his or her ideas truthfully and factually.
b. When emotions like disgust, anger, and discontentment are
concerned, it is much better to verbalize it. However, they
do not discount the fact that they show emotions by nonverbal
means too, before they verbally express their sentiments to their
husbands.
c. Muslim way of verbal communication is distinct because it is
characterized by loudness and pabagsak na tono (jerky pace and
sudden volume and melody drop) in speaking. Wives said if you
are not familiar with their culture, you might think that the couple
is quarrelling or arguing.
d. Wives agreed that nonverbal cues must only be used as a support
to the conveyed message. They said it must never be used as
the main communication medium between husbands and wives.
However, a wife claimed she shudders every time her husband
asks for sex because he verbalizes it. She believes it is best to
express it nonverbally.
Both Hajji and Leo, husbands, agreed that verbal communication
has distinct qualities that can be advantageous compared to nonverbal
communication. In the case of Hajji, maintaining his four wives needed
constant verbal communication with them. Although he admitted that he
too employed nonverbal communication since he also had to observe his
wives nonverbal communication. At times, using nonverbal communication
was beneficial to him since he could easily detect if there were some
misunderstanding among his wives. Leo did not have similar need because
he has only one wife.
These husbands also confirmed that using nonverbal cues, most often
than not, was misinterpreted. They believed it is always best to express
important ideas verbally.
Dapat talaga kausapin ang asawa. Mahirap na baka humantong
pa 'yan sa masama. (It is really best that you talk it out
with your wife. It might lead to something bad.) (Leo,
August 30, 2004)
90
Wives Voices
91
Figer & Cagadas
Inarguably, the participants are fully aware of the tasks and duties that
are expected of them by stressing: seeing to it that I attend to my husbands
needs.
Muslim and Catholic wives take their responsibilities wholeheartedly
by recognizing the ups and downs of the relationship and their limitations in
serving their husbands and future children. Essentially, this is Sevillas (1989)
finding in her work The Filipino Women and the Family. Taking the role as an
92
Wives Voices
On Decision-Making
93
Figer & Cagadas
Conclusion
94
Wives Voices
Notes
1
Alan Bryman (1992) defines idiographic research as those research conducted in a
specific milieuwhere representativeness is unknown and probably unknowable,
so that the generalizability of such findings is also unknown.
2
James Anderson (1987) defines phenomenology as the study of the manner
in which experience is made meaningful within the mind. Phenomenological
methods are processes that deal with the social construction of reality as based on
the individual or collective definitions of the situation.
95
Figer & Cagadas
Selected References
96
Wives Voices
_____________________
Reggy C. Figer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication,
FEU. He obtained his BA (cum laude) and MA in Communication Research from
the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He is at present a Monbukagakusho
Research Fellow at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.
97
Feminizing Television
Programming
Jaypril B. JARING
This paper reports about nine programs on women featured on QTV 11, the only
channel on the free TV networks in the Philippines that devotes itself mainly to
programs primarily for women. Using George Gerbners Cultivation theory, the review
looks at how the network seeks to contribute to women empowerment by presenting
positive portrayals of them. This prevailing type of programs in a powerful medium
like television gives QTV the leverage to assume the social responsibility of promoting
and protecting womens welfare.
Feminized Programming
Motherhood
99
Jaring
Tough Achievers
100
Feminizing Television Programming
101
Jaring
Women as Fighter
102
Feminizing Television Programming
103
Jaring
George Gerbner (in Baran and Davis, 1995) believed that television
cultivates or creates a worldview that, although possibly inaccurate,
becomes the reality simply because we, as a people, believe it to be the reality
and base our judgments about our own, everyday worlds on that reality.
Being accessible and available in most homes, the medium is the central
cultural arm (304). Television has a great ability to mold viewers attitudes
and opinions. Thus, whatever TV portrays highly affects the perception of
social reality.
Through mainstreaming and resonance, the cultivation of a social
reality is realized. As Baran and Davis put it:
Televisions symbols monopolize and dominate other
sources of information and ideas about the world. Peoples
internalized social realities eventually move toward the
mainstream, not mainstream in any political sense, but
a culturally dominant reality that is more closely aligned
with televisions reality than with any objective reality
(308-309).
Constant exposure to these feminized television programs via
the mainstream media gives viewers dominant, common perspectives or
portrayals of women, which condition them to believe that these actually exist
in real life.Through resonance the belief is deeply embedded when viewers
see that the television text is also most congruent with their own everyday
realities (309). Resonance serves as intensifier of the images and facts that
viewers learn by watching television. As a result, real world experiences,
combined with the TV texts, create a perception of the world.
In essence, television has the power to strengthen and create a common
belief by instilling and confirming current beliefs of people while changing
and modifying previous thoughts about the world.
The feminization process is further cultivated by what feminists
call consciousness raising (CR). Consciousness-raising was a means
of sharing reliable information about the female experienceraising or
bringing up into consciousness things previously known or understood
only at an unconscious level (Eisenstein, 1983). This process is a way to
relate the female world to others, clarify details, and create a sense of reality
about them. A crucial function of CR was to enable women to connect
104
Feminizing Television Programming
the personal with the political (37). Female experiences, once shared,
transform to a common idea or belief that leads to understanding a social
reality about them.
Through this, women can find strength. The heart of CR was the
discovery that one was not alone, that other women had comparable feelings
and experiences (37). No other person can share a womans sense of reality
than woman alone. This reality can be deepened if women are seen and
portrayed through them and amplified through the power of television.
Cultivating through television the process of consciousness-raising
through its feminized programs serves as a forum to emphasize gradients
of womens identities and strengths, which in effect can enhance female
viewers consciousness. The programs can also provide women with more
positive perceptions about themselves. The programs make women aware
that womens needs and concerns have to be recognized, appreciated, and
comprehended. QTVs programming also ennobles a particular womans
role that is so important in todays pluralistic society where advocacies on
multi-perspectives are in voguemothers. Subsequently, as the other half
of the world, they are empowered.
The coming of QTV has crafted a significant mark of and for women
in television. It has promoted the vital discourse on social issues that concern
women via mainstream television. As Gigi Santiago-Lara articulated, Our
thrust is to provide entertainment and information about women. We try
to provide inspiration to our viewers and make them feel the importance
of women that everythings possible for women to accomplish, that women
should be treated with respect and dignity.
Notes
1
GMA 7 claims to be the leading broadcast company in the Philippines. For
company profile, visit http://www.igma.tv.corp_about.php
2
The original license holder of Channel 11. It is co-owned by religious groups
Jesus is Lord Movement and El Shaddai before GMA-7 provided the programs.
3
ABS-CBN Channel 2 is the first Filipino channel owned by the Lopez Group of
Companies. ABS-CBN is the largest integrated media and entertainment company
in the Philippines with an asset base of Php24 billion (USD503 million) (ABS-
CBN Website).
4
RPN 9 or Radio Philippines Network is a semiprivate broadcasting network.
5
ABC 5 is owned by businessman Antonio Cojuangco. It is the third oldest network
105
Jaring
in the country.
6
Studio 23 is a UHF channel, fully-owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN.
7
Please see http://aysstarpower.blogspot.com/2005/11/qtv-11-is-new-
preferred-alternative.html
8
Title cards courtesy of Ms. Jehan Sualog, production administrator of QTV 11.
References
Baran, J. & Davis, D. (1995). Mass communication theory: Foundations, ferment, and
future. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Eisenstein, H. (1983). Contemporary feminist thought. Boston: G.K. Hall and
Company.
Friedan, B. (1983). Feminisms next step. In P. Eschholz & A. Rosa (Eds.), Outlooks
and insights: A reader for writers. New York: St. Martins Press.
Jaring, J. (2007). Kwento natin to: A study on the advent of QTV11 in
Philippine television industry. Unpublished thesis, FEU Department of
Communication.
National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women. (2007). Violence Against
Women. Retrieved December 8, 2007, from http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/
insidepages/18_day_campaign/public_vs_vaw.htm.
_____________________
Jaypril B. Jaring is an AB Mass Communication graduate (magna cum laude) of
Far Eastern University last April 2007. He currently works as full-time program
researcher in different shows in the News and Public Affairs Department of GMA
Network, Inc. and QTV 11. At present, he is also a sales writer for medical
products in Increase Media Support Systems, a freelance essay writer for Writers.
ph, and contributor of academic magazines to Vibal Publishing, Inc.
106
From Page to Stage:
A Review on William
Shakespeares AsYou Like It
Joey B. TING
love, aging, the natural world, and death), friends are made, and families
are reunited. By the plays end Ganymede, once again Rosalind, marries
her Orlando. Two other sets of lovers are also wed, one of them Celia and
Orlandos mean older brother Oliver. As Oliver becomes a gentler, kinder
young man so the Duke conveniently changes his ways and turns to religion
so that the exiled Duke, father of Rosalind, can rule once again.
At the helm of the UP production was Prof. Josefina Estrella (who
bills herself as Jose Estrella), currently the artistic director of Dulaang
UP. Estrella is an associate professor of the Department of Speech
Communication and Theater Arts, College of Arts and Letters in Diliman.
She finished her Master of Fine Arts in Directing in Columbia University as
a Fulbright scholar.
Her artistic team was composed of Dexter Santos (choreographer),
Amiel Leonardia (lighting designer), Lex Marcos (set designer), and J.Victor
Villareal (music/sound designer).
This theater review touches in part on feministic images used
by Estrella in her postmodern day interpretation of Shakespeares As You
Like It and juxtaposes the debatable issue on the representation of female
characters in Elizabethan Theater.
108
From Page to Stage
in the set. However, the mechanical illusions had some errors. The see-saw,
for example, did not function as intended.
Costumes.The costumes had a contemporary look, which proved the
usefulness of ready-to-wear outfits. Though the major characters costumes
were represented by color, they somehow lacked powers of solidity and
elegance.The costume statement was aesthetically weak. Even the significant
part where Rosalind (played by Nathasia Garrucha) cross-dressed did not
succeed politically. The scene called for a ritual supposedly aided by the
costumes; however, the director created a mishap. Jacques, one of the male
characters, experienced the same fate on the choice of his costume, which
was deliberately transposed into a female role-play.
It was difficult for the director and designer to achieve the costuming
and transposing of the two different genders played by one actor.
Conceptually, there was an attempt to manage with intelligence the role-
play as perceived through the directors aesthetic decision. But the costumes
were inadequate and sloppy to purport gender transposition. It could have
been better if the director and designer teamed up to achieve practical ways
for the audience to better understand the play. The wonders of the costumes
got lost in the way.
Music/Sound. Music plays a major role in any production. The
music put together by Villareal was forgettable. The music did not create
any emphatic impact on most scenes. In theater design, Villareals choice
of music was quite incompatible with Estrellas conceptual staging. This
pastoral play should focus on fundamental music and soundscape. Any
designer should ultimately aim for simplifying tests and experimentations
in music especially if it is a Shakespearean play.
With Villareals execution, an atmosphere of uncertainty was felt that
contributed several unnaturalness and irritability in the production.
Lighting. Most scenes in the play were intentionally darkened.
Lighting problem had more to do with the intensity. Romantic comedies
are always staged with a lighter design. A director may still achieve the
illusory mood effect provided by a designer, but to intensify darkness on
stage may result to eye irritation and unconscious negative reactions from
some people in the audience.
Rhythmic lighting was the loophole in the production. The intensity
was totally different from the rhythm. The scenes of the play had a struggle,
which were manifested sophomorically in the production. Leonardia,
109
Ting
Feminist Images
110
From Page to Stage
Synthesis
111
Ting
historians have not resolved until now. Wilson and Goldfarb (2000: 197-
198) explained that the absence of women in Elizabethan theater has led to
interesting discussions regarding the representation of female characters.
Cross-dressing (that is, dressing as the opposite sex)which in todays
drama has become a popular way to point out sexual stereotypinghad
many reverberations in Shakespeares plays We should note that cross-
dressing in Elizabethan drama usually did dramatize negative ideas about
women.
Estrella was able to oppose the sexual stereotyping by using role
reversal and injecting homoerotic interpretations. The attempt to have a
feminist approach is a welcome development in this Elizabethan theater.
Estrella had Anne Bogart as mentor, one of the pioneers of postmodern
viewpoints in theater and whose performance theory applies specifically for
all theater artists working for a collaborative end product. As an educator-
artist, Estrella reflected Bogarts viewpoint that an actors craft lies in the
differentiation of one moment from the next. A great actor seems dangerous,
unpredictable, and full of life and differentiation. Thus, moments are highly
differentiated (in Dixon & Smith, 1995: 11).
This idea was clearly demonstrated in Estrellas AsYou Like It as veteran
Philippine actors and actresses underwent the process of disorientation,
difficulty, and terror. Bogart emphasized changes in the process and
production of a new culture in theater by shaking the culture of every
production (in Dixon & Smith, 1995: 5). Estrellas stage direction, instead
of using traditional staging, bravely attempted to rediscover the vision of
Shakespeare when he was writing romantic pastoral comedy and applied
Bogarts viewpoints. Even if weak in theatrical elements, Estrella was able to
pull through with the strong alliance of feminist actresses physical qualities
that made her staging quite interesting.
Bogarts influences on Estrella might have also created several
confusion and disorientation among fellow Filipino artists. Are Philippine
theater actors and actresses, designers, technicians, and managers ready for
this Americanized version of Russian Stanislavskis theater methodology? A
closing thought for fellow artists and scholars.
112
From Page to Stage
Notes
1
To view Saldy Calders art, visit www.chrysler.org/collections/calder.jpg
References
_____________________
Joey B. Ting is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Far
Eastern University (FEU). He is one of the more established theater, television,
and film directors in the country today. He obtained his BA in Theater Arts in UP
Diliman and MA in Education (with distinction) from FEU. His name is listed in the
International Movie Data Base and has represented the country in an international
arts conference at Han Nam University, Korea. He serves as Artistic Director of
FEU Art Theatre Clinique (ATC), which he founded along with student theater
artists and Communication majors in FEU. He is currently writing his thesis for his
MA in Theater Arts at UP and holds two major positions at present: FEU Faculty
Association (FEUFA) President (2008-2013) and National Commission on Culture
and the Arts (NCCA) Executive Council on Cinema Assistant Secretary (2008-
2011).
113
Wind, Water, Fire:
Faces of Feminism in Kaleldo
first signs of women fighting for their rights brought a disturbance in the
status quo; hence, some stereotypes of feminism endure: man-hating, bra-
burning, radicals (Wood, 1997). Often, though, the images are associated
with lesbianism.
To understand where the very negative connotations of feminism came
from, it is important to understand the term vis--vis patriarchy. Literally,
patriarchy means rule by fathers. It refers to the overall system of structures
and practices that sustain inequities between the experiences, responsibilities,
status, and opportunities of different social groups especially women and
men. Moreover, patriarchy does not refer to the views, values, or behaviors
of individual men. Feminist criticisms of patriarchy and patriarchal values,
therefore, are not attacks against men but against a system that reflects the
views and interests of men as a group (Wood, 1997: 314).
A very basic definition of feminism is an organized activity that
addresses the political, social, cultural and economic inequality between
women and men. Sister Mary John Mananzan (1997) defines feminism as
the belief that women are oppressed, that there is gender inequality and the
commitment to put an end to gender inequality (35).
115
Velasquez & Larao
occasional slap in the face, never mind if all his daughters are old enough,
to try and keep them in line. Mang Rudy is especially harsh to Grace and to
Jesusa who happens to be (butch) lesbian and. At the wedding, Mang Rudy
orders Jesusa to stop drinking, which she meekly obeys. However, as soon
as he turns his back, she breaks a bottle in defiance. He immediately returns
to strike her even as Lourdes and Grace tried in vain to restrain him. When
Grace comes home from running off impulsively, Mang Rudy greets her
with nary a word but a blow on her face, which seemingly surprised no
one. According to Tan (2003), In a conflict situation, the Filipino male is
allowedeven expected, to rage when something goes wrong. Problems
are solved, it is presumed, by male authority, male force. If the male finally
strikes a woman in anger, she is the one blamed.
Subverting Patriarchy
116
Wind, Water, Fire
headed reason. She is the de facto wedding coordinator, a role she seems to
take as easily and as naturally as she breathes. In her family, she is the more
effective business manager, compared to her fussy, soft-spoken husband
(played by Allan Paule). It is she, in fact, who takes charge of the whole
familys finances. Her husband had tried a business venture in the past and
failed, so Lourdes unflinchingly questions his abilities when he suggests
trying another.
Among the three sisters, Lourdes representation as a woman is the
most complicated. While she seems to be the one in charge of the entire
household, as well as being dominant in her marriage, things are completely
different in the bedroom. She reluctantly lets her husband caress her, while
flashbacks show a disturbing scene where her husband appears to be raping
her. He was very aggressive, oblivious to her painfully contorted face and
body. Eisenstein (1983) discusses Susan Brownmillers theory of rape as a
means of keeping men in control over women. Lourdes was raped and the
acts embedded notion of coercion reinforced it as an instrument which a
man can use to instill fear in a woman and, thus, keep her under his control
and possession. Her husband dominates her in this way to keep her in her
proper place, tempering her financial and managerial prowess that threatens
his masculinity.
But if sex (in this case, rape) was the tool that patriarchy used to impose
control on Lourdes, she also turned to sex for salvation. Fire has always been
associated with passion, which is commonly associated with sex. Ironically,
there is no passion involved in any of Lourdes sex scenes. In Kaleldo, sex is
not a romanticized concept. It is not something that patriarchy dangles like
a sword of Damocles over a womans head. Sex is not romanticized because
it is not associated with virginity. Sex in Kaleldo is a tool to either control a
woman or to subvert patriarchy. Lourdes used sex to defy patriarchys hold
over her: her femininity through sexual intercourse. She unflinchingly sleeps
with a bank officer to get a loan. Her action was merely meant to manipulate
the officer, to provide a quick solution to her immediate financial problem.
In the end, it served her another purpose, although unintentionally: It
ultimately provided a solution to her fundamental problem. Her marriage is
irreparably damaged, setting her free from her husband/abuser.
Meanwhile, the story of the eldest daughter, Jesusa (or Jess, as she
prefers to be addressed as a lesbian) is told through the element of water.
117
Velasquez & Larao
118
Wind, Water, Fire
trying to contain the butch lesbian by looking down on her and making her
appear more womanly by assigning her chores traditionally associated with
females, but this is also where her strength for empowerment liesJess
character is a way of breaking down gender stereotypes. It does not matter
whether we are wearing pink or blue; in the end, her character teaches us
that we are not defined by rigid gender conventions.
Conclusion
Notes
1
Produced by Center Stage Productions. Co-produced and distributed byViva Films.
Available in video formats. The film has been exhibited at the Jeonju International
Film Festival in Korea, where it won the critics prize from the Network for the
Promotion of Asian Cinema (Netpac), as well as in the 28th Durban International
Film Festival in South Africa, 2007, where Picache won as best actress for her
performance as the butch lesbian daughter.
119
Velasquez & Larao
References
_____________________
Ingrid K.Velasquez and Arby Mari B. Larao, senior AB Mass Communication
students, are officers of the FEU Film Society. Velasquez is also a playwright of
the FEU Art Theatre Clinique, the student theater arm of the Department of
Communication. She had training at the Public Information Office of Camp Crame.
Larao, on the other hand, worked as documentation head for Summer Cinema
Workshop of the Mowelfund Film Institute.
120
Beyond Bias and Barriers:
An Interview with a Passionate
Speech Communication Teacher
Walter H. YUDELMO
122
Beyond Bias and Barriers
recounted.
She went on to reveal that she actually did not want to leave UP and
was disgusted at the thought of having to please her parents who were in
turn displeased with her dreadful, overworked, and underpaid hours in the
government university.
But, then, the obedient daughter that I was, I agreed to transfer to
FEU where I was promised I would be asked to teach only just-so number of
hours and get, in turn, quite a number of pesos. This reads like a confession.
But I must confess, and very gladly, that after the first six months of teaching
in Manila, ever since that, I have never regretted my decision to transfer and
more to remain in FEU, Soriano confided.
While already in FEU she was invited twice by Prof. Consuelo Fonacier
of UP. First was to request her to be the first chair of UPs Department
of Speech and Drama and second to be second chair of the department.
Despite the insistence of her parents that she return to UP, I very meekly
refused. I know that in UP, there is the honor, the privilege, the prestige, and
the opportunity.
But in UP, I was a dictator:You didnt understand? Stupid! You didnt
cover it? Lazy! You dont like me? Drop! she recalled.
At FEU, however, Soriano discovered on her own the opportunity
that led to her fulfillment as a teacher. The University transformed her
perceptions and teaching idealism.
One day, I observed and wondered: how come one student always
came in leisurely late, yet once seated, he was heaving, sweating. Another
one would come early, rushing in to sit, then put up his feet, and leave
one dirty shoe slipping out the cubicle of the speech laboratory. There was
one chewing a gum throughout the sound and sentence drills; two last-
rowers snickering often. One sitting in front wore the same short red skirt
with uniform top, while the other in the tightest see-through blouse with a
long side-slit skirt. These were the kind of students that challenged me and
needed to be understood and guided for a reason.
Transformed Idealism
Soriano, thus, reflected one day about the attendance and behavior
of her students. She reminisced: Pacing around the classroom, through the
cubicles, inquiring, I learned that one came all the way from Angeles City
123
Yudelmo
every morning, another walked through rice fields for two hours. Others
were coming from all night stand as security guards, two were in bars, one as
bartender. I also had a student who worked as newsboy, trying ever so hard
to keep awake. One sold cigarettes in a night club, her friend a chorus girl.
These were my students, all of them working their way through college.
Then she realized: It was not their fault if they did not have the means
to attend the school, the university that would have revealed to them the
best. But it was my chance now to be of usetry a new approach, a different
group, a different prop, a phrase, a thought. And no more droning out my
wisdom, for theres oil underneath them and I must allow it to gush forth;
theres a match with me and I must light their individual candles. It was I
who must go to them for I desired them strongly and intensely.
She, thus, provided additional consulting hours to explain further to
tired minds different sets of questions to suit lifestyles and attitudes. She
admitted that she was known in the University as the professor with the
most number of incompletes. She demanded quality performances as she
gave her students more time to take in what they were suffering so hard to
acquire. In the end, she happily shared, Learning was full, I from each, each
from me, and decades later, both of us remember and live on.
It was in FEU where she found a deeper meaning of teaching.
Why so? As I look back, I must state that I believe it made my years at
FEU special. It is communication competence as the focus of the philosophy
of speech education. Not articulation proficiency. Not linguistic mastery, but
humane interaction among all: A philosophy that reflects the Universitys
concern for both the working class and less privileged members of the
Philippine society. It was concern for the humanity of speech communication.
All in the Department were bound by one conviction: That the skill and the
art of speech must be shared with and mastered by the studentry.
124
Beyond Bias and Barriers
125
Yudelmo
126
Beyond Bias and Barriers
_____________________
Walter H. Yudelmo is a faculty member of the Department of Communication
of FEU, an adjunct Political Affairs Officer in the Philippine House of Congress,
and a Costumer Service Auditor of the Radio Communications of the Philippines,
Inc. In South Korea, he completed his Master of Public Administration through
the University of San Agustin-Offshore Education (2003) and Diploma in Foreign
Language from the University of Seoul (2001). He was conferred the national
award, 2005 Huwarang Pilipino for Education by the Parangal sa Pamilyang
Pilipino Foundation at the Irwin Theater Hall of the Ateneo de Manila University
for his depiction of Problems Related to the Alien Training Systems of Filipino in
South Korea. He is currently completing his Doctor of Public Administration at
the University of the Philippines, Diliman.
127
NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS
All contributions should have a high degree of scholarship. They will have to
be approved by the editorial board and by selected referees for publication.