Four Values in Filipino Drama and Film

(Excerpt)
Tiongson, Nicanor G. “Four Values in Filipino Drama
and Film. 1979.

THERE IS NO doubt that cinema has risen as one of the most popular means of mass communication in
contemporary Philippines. Movie theaters dot cities, towns and other important commercial centers from Aparri to
Jolo. Through these theaters, Nora Aunor has truly become a national figure and tagalog has risen to the status of a
real national language. Indeed, movie theaters have become as important to us today as churches were in the last
century. Because movies have become one of the most important means of communication, it is high time that the
Filipinos examined the values encountered in and propagated by, the movies. These values at the general worldview
arising from them inevitably mold the Filipino’s consciousness for better or for worse, in an effective, if insidious,
manner through stories that entertain. Sad to say, the principal values encountered in most Filipino movies today are
the same negative values they have inherited from the traditional dramas which migrated, so to speak, from stage to
screen, and provided the latter, for the longest time, with both form, content and most of all, world-view. Four of these
values which we must single out for their prevalence, perseverance and perniciousness may ne encapsulated in the
following statements: 1) Maganda ang Maputi (White is beautiful), 2) Masaya ang may Palabas (Shows are the best),
3) Mabuti ang Inaapi (Hurrah for the Underdog!), and 4) Maganda pa ang Daigdig (All is Right with the world).

Maganda ang Maputi

Our colonial aesthetics today 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 or princess 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.” Likewise, in
the passion play called sinakulo, natives playing Christ and most especially the Virgin, were chosen on the basis of
their resemblance to both istampitas and images of Christ and the virgin in the Churches, both of 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.

During the American regime,

bodabil/stage show (which showcased American songs and dances) not only singled out Filipinos who could do
imitations of Elvis Presley and Tom Jones, but necessarily also favored the Caucasian-looking either as the closer
imitation of these originals” (note Eddie Mesa and Victor Wood) or as “leading man types,” above the “ethnic-looking”
who in spite of their often superior talent, were relegated to slapstick comedies and roles of maids or minor friends.
Similarly, there was a time in the Ateneo when directors of Shakespearean plays picked out the not-too-ethnic-looking
boys whose skin pigmentations would not contrast too sharply and ridiculously with Ophelia’s or Roxanne’s blonde
wig. A recent production of My Fair Lady borrowed Caucasians from the international School to lend “authenticity” to
its ball and Ascot scenes. And if the virgin was the ideal of physical beauty in Spanish times, the small town modista’s
blonde or redhead white-skinned tinny lipped mannequin, as well as tall, willowy mestiza Karilagan models, have
become the impossible dreams of the contemporary Filipina.

American movies have likewise provided Filipinos with new gods and goddesses. Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn,
Rudolf Valentino, and Elvis Presley are only some of Hollywood’s stars from whom our local planets derived their
glow (Amalia Fuentes, Barbara Perez, Leonard Salcedo, and Eddie Mesa, respectively).
Clearly then, the colonial aesthetics of contemporary Philippine movies are both a derivation, an outgrowth and a
magnification of colonial aesthetics in our Spanish past and American present, Today, all stars in the firmament of
Filipino cinema with the sole and singular exception of Nora Aunor (who ascended to her throne as a singer) are either
mestizos, mestizas or mestisuhin, “Tipong Artista” therefore can be applied only to actors like Eddie Gutierrez, Dante
Rivero, George Estregan, Joseph Estrada, and Fernando Poe Jr., and actresses like Amalia Fuentes, Gloria
Romero, Trixia Gomez, Gina Pareño, Daria Romirez, Elizabeth Oropesa and Nida Blanca.

Corollary, native-looking actors and actresses often end up as comedians or kontrabidas, like Chiquito, Dely Atay-
atayan, Chichay, Martin Marfil, Balot, Tange, and Cachupoy. There are exceptions to be sure, (especially with actors
who have other than physical beauty) but the rule is incontrovertible.

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 aquiline or, at least, decently Caucasian proportions, their breasts uplifted and directed to
crisp, and commendable heights, while today commercial after commercial appeals to them to buy this and buy that
brand of milk to their children will grow tall because “iba na ang matangkad.” Because of this value, our women gave
dyed streaked their hair or rust, with expensive imported dyes or agua oxigenada bought from the corner drugstore.
Because of it, Filipinas through the decades have covered up their own golden skin with powders and makeups, from
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. Because “white is beautiful,” Filipinas have
adopted a ridiculous pout to contract their full, sensuous lips into a proper smallness. Because white is
beautiful, brown has become criminally ugly.

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