Besides the typecasting of nerdy boys eventually becoming superheroes of their own stories, I

would want to think that the story would require a character that isn’t susceptible to the pitfalls of
popular culture and various societal norms that the story puts forward. In fact, I would want to
think that any situation that involves pop culture and societal norms would require a “radicalist”
(for lack of a better term) to be able to counteract such stagnation and normalization of various
things in any society; basically any weirdo (the kind with high functioning thinking) and outcasts.
Now on changing any aspect of the story such as tone, context, or complete character overhaul
would end up differently depending on which path is taken. For starters, changing out Jeremy
for someone like Lena would turn the entire story on its head simply because Lena would be
susceptible to the various things I mentioned above. Lena, first and foremost, is a participant in
all of the activities happening on the Holodeck and would be one of the last people to question
anything “different” that would otherwise happen in the area. Another thing that I would consider
is the fact that the Spaghetti Dance (I assume this is dance referenced due to the implied
gestures) was really intended for the consumption of a young audience, specifically young girls
and teenagers. Therefore, I would assume that Lena wouldn’t be as capable as Jeremy from
preventing any untoward incident from happening simply because of the dance’s intended
audience (i.e Lena and other girls). Now if we were to change something like the motives of Mr.
Santos or his behavior towards Jeremy, it would have been highly plausible that he would be
very open to the idea of joining Mr. Santos in general. This is because the ending was
determined by the fact that Jeremy was excluded specifically by Mr. Santos from even entering
the holodeck and was even implied to have used Jeremy as a bad example in front of his peers.
So I would conclude that the tone would drastically shift if Mr. Santos would have simply been
nicer to Jeremy or if his motives would have been beneficial to them both.

As a reflection of society as a whole, I think that these two stories represent two of the many
different facets of being a Filipino in this day and age. To me, "The Day the Sexbomb Dancers
Invaded Our Brains" represents how information is taken and put into action, with people
choosing to take information as is and not be willing to second-guess despite its “normality”,
This is shown in how the children and youth are willingly taking in any information from the
holodeck because it is “right”. Just like the story, the majority of Filipinos are willing to take any
information as long as it fits their preferences and biases, even if they are from opinionated
sources such as Facebook blogs, political Tik Tok shorts, or even one-sided stories taken from
relatives who have experienced these “issues”. While “Taking Gaia” in its negative aspects
represents the lack of pride in being a Filipino and the many times Filipinos allow themselves to
become overrun by other corrupt governments such as other colonist countries and political
families. In a way, the negative aspects also reflect the lack of unity between Filipinos when it
comes to radicalism and change. I say this because in the story the Americans want to unite the
world under their leadership in the space race for their benefit, and in the same way, our
presumptive leaders take on the same perspective and motives to unite people under their
banner.

Overall, I think that these stories really portray how we ought to be as Filipinos in this day and
age, that being critical and analytical in information, and radical and united as constituents to
our nation.