Rona Mae R.

Rodriguez BSA-I
LIT1N 10:30-11:30 AM
Learning Act.1

4Values in Filipino Drama and Film

Negative Implications of the Filipino Culture

1.Maganda ang maputi.

A.Our colonial aestheticstoday may be partly rooted to various dramatic forms, during both
the Spanish and American colonial regimes, which populated and perpetuated the value of
“white is beautiful”.During Spanish times, the komedya dramas from awits and koridos
revolving around the love of princes and princesses in the fight between Christians and
Moros during the middle ages in Europe not only made the “indio" cheer and champion the
cause of the white Europeans who, favored by God and miracles,invariably defeated the
Moros but also demanded a standard of beauty that legitimized and made ideal the bastard
or the mestizo.To be a prince and princesses one had to “look the part" one had to have
“matangos na ilong, malaking mata, maliit na bibig,” and most of all, “maputing balat".He or
she also had to have “magandang tindig" which is simple language boiled down to “tall like a
white man.” The value of “white is beautiful “ has been and is one of the most
ridiculous and destructive expressions of our colonial mentality. Because of it,
Filipinas have lavished money on surgery and trips abroad to have their eyes made
wider, their noses sculptured to acquiline or at least ,decently Caucasian
proportions, thir breasts uplifted and directed to crisps, and commendable heights,
while today commercial after commercial appeals to them to buy this and buy that
brand milk to their children will grow tall because “iba na ang matangkad".

B.Likewise, in the passion play called sinakulo, natives playing Christ an most especially the
Virgin, were chosen on the basis of their resemblance both istampitas and images of Christ
and the virgin in the Churches, both whom were always unmistakably and invariably
Caucasian. It is not surprising that the term “parang birhen" became a stock metaphor
among native poets in describing the idealized beauty of any woman.Because of this
value, Filipina women gave dyed streaked their hair or rust, with expensive imported
dyes or agua oxigenada bought from the corner drugstore. Because of it, Filipina
through the decades covered up their own golden skin with powder and make ups,
form Doña Victorina who pasted on so much rice powders her face “cracked" and
“crumbled" ,like her Spanish ,in midday heat, to Vicky and secretary, who spends a
third of her salary on expensive Max factor foundations and make up and eye shades
which are supposed to make her look like a vogue cover girl but which only
succeeded in giving her a ridiculous mask whose color stands out apart from the rest
of her body.

2.Masaya ang may palabas

A.In the spanish times the komedya delighted audiences for the days on end with batallas or
fight between individuals (both men and women) or armies (Christian Moro) Batallas which
were done to the tune of the carranza and executed in steps of the curracha, to the
accompaniment of a brass or bamboo band, accounted for atleast half of the total
performance time, because audience demanded that fights be prolonged, especially if the
prince and princesses displayed a charming or novel way of fighting with sword, dagger or
spear .An audiences involvement in a fight was gauged by their screams, catcalls, boss ,or
gift of money thrown on stage.
B.The dramas ,on the other hand, entertained by squeezing ones tears glands dry and
making a riverof ones nose.Mass audiences delighted in masochistic entertainment by
empathizing with facile stories about poor-but-beautiful-kasama-girl drowning in a torrent of
abusive words from wicked donyas, or about maudlin moppets subjected to the physical
violence of madrastas, or of tubercular husbands coughing their life away in the arms of
wives eke out a pitiful from washing other people's clothes.

3.Mabuti ang inaapi

A.The value of making a hero of the underdog and of enthroning suffering and divisiveness
was propagated and legitimized by the colonial regimes of Spain and America in th
Philippines. In Spanish times, the two principal forms of literature and their dramatic
counterparts set up two principal types of heroes for the edification and emulation of the
“indios" .The pasyon and its dramatic counterparts the sinakulo, had Christ as “Mabining
tao" whose main virtue seemed to be the lack of a backbone and whose acute anemia of the
will was more than compensated for by malfunctioning tear glands.
B.During the American regime, the Spanish zarzuela and drama that were indigenized by
local playwrights as well as romantic short stories and novels by Filipinos ,usually had for
heroine,blushing rural maids,utusan, cabaret girls,labanderas ,tinderas of sampagitas or
kakanins, who were hounded by various relentlessly furies, represented by abject
poverty,rich donyas, evil madrastas,malicious mother-in-law and ugly but well-dressed step-
sisters .In almost all case,these lacklustre heroines draw strength from uncompromising
virtue and sterling submissiveness and masochistic self-depreciation.

4.Maganda pa ang daigdig

A.The last value which stipulates that “all right with the world" is not a value in itself , but a
world view that arises as a consequence of the second and third disvalue.Like all the other
disvalues, the terminal world view was molded by our colonial experience. In Spanish times,
our colonial drama always ended with the affirmation that all evil is punished and all good
rewarded. Christ in both the pasyon and the sinakulo rises from the dead ,and ascend
triumphantly into heave, while his enemies cover before his brilliance and in some plays are
condemned to blindness, eternal wandering, beheading, or other colorful,if sadistic. Corporal
punishment.
B.In american times ,the maudlin heroines and shy heroes of he dramas and zarzuelas were
showered with happy endings ,usually in the form of marriage to the rich mans son/daughter,
and were besieged by teary repentance of ponyas,madrastas and sisters-in-law .Most often
they also become wealthy overnight, with timely pamana from distant uncles or
grandmothers living in distant provinces who leave all their wealth to them as last remaining
relative.Bodabil and stage show, on the other hand,simply aim to “entertain" and make their
audiences turn away from the unhappiness of the world.