DLSC LITFILI: 2nd Blog Post: How My Brother Leon/Mats

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From DLSC Litfili edu20 site:

The last two short stories, Manuel Arguilla's How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife and Francisco Arcellana's The Mats involve what one might term "traditional" Filipino families. Both were also written before World War II.

Choose at least one of the following writing guidelines for your blog post:

1. Pick out one or more common themes or elements from both stories. Discuss what interests you about this/these themes or elements. Do they still occur/exist in the context of the modern family?

2. Compare and contrast the dynamics or relations between families then and now, or between families of different cultures.

For either topic, you will need to draw on relevant materials, such as news articles, blog entries, online videos, advertising, trends, threads and conversations, etc. to prove your point.

Your opinions and insights are important in the grading of this assignment, but don't forget to cite or link to your sources/references.

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One of the common themes almost always included in Filipino stories just like How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife by Manuel Arguilla and The Mats by Francisco Arcellana is the closeness of the Filipino family.

The stories feature families whose members are usually in good or understanding terms with each other. The families usually live under one roof. The parents usually support each other and their children, even when the children are old enough to be independent but are not due to their upbringing. The whole "family first" mentality is a result of the over-reliance of the members of the family with each other.

These things have been happening for such a long time that it has become a part of Philippine culture and has shaped the Philippines; for better or for worse; into what it is now.

Modern Filipino families still practice such behavior, mostly because it is hard-coded into their brains because it is most likely how the leaders of the family, the parents, were raised.

It has a lot of good and bad effects. The obvious good effects being learning to respect and realize the value one's family, and teamwork values. The bad effects are less obvious; the lack of independence of a child resulting in submissiveness, lack of identity, over-reliance, and possible single-mindedness and subservience to the parents, and an ill-journeyed or delayed transition into real adulthood. The "Family first" mentality may even contribute to the Philippines' rampant corruption due to the creation of political dynasties (appointing family members, even if ill-qualified, to political positions) and prioritizing family over the proper and effective governing of an entire country.

I doubt the Filipino mentality regarding family will change anytime soon, so if left unchecked, the Philippines won't change either, for quite some time.

Supporting articles regarding Filipino family values:
1.http://www.eastwestcenter.org/sites/default/files/private/POPwp10808.pdf -Formal study
2.http://antipinoy.com/failed-family-values/ -A tad extreme but has good points
3.http://countrystudies.us/philippines/41.htm -Includes religion

Supporting articles regarding Philippine political dynasties and corruption:
1.http://carlosconde.com/2007/05/12/family-dynasties-bind-politics-in-philippines/ -New York Times Article
2.http://globalbalita.com/2011/political-dynasties-still-dominate-congress/ -Philippine Star Article
3.http://kuro-kuro.org/archives/5201 -A Filipino blogger's opinions, good insight

DLSC LITFILI - My Father Goes to Court by Carlos Bulosan

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From DLSC LITFILI edu20 site:

"Harsh living conditions and racial discrimination might be the motivations behind Bulosan's (re)imagination or reconstruction of "Filipino" in his fiction. Cite similar but more contemporary events/trends of image building among Filipinos (filmmakers, artists, writers, celebrities, politicians and other key figures, or ordinary citizens via social media). What are the popular images being created to represent national identity?

Draw on relevant materials, such as news articles, blog entries, online videos, advertising, trends, threads and conversations, etc. to prove your point.

Your opinions and insights is important in the grading of this assignment, but don't forget to cite or link to your sources/references."

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My answer:

I think that popular images being created by Filipinos to represent their national identity can mostly be seen in Filipino media, especially in broadcast, film, and electronic media.

The forever-popular-to-the-masses television game and talent shows are the closest I can (and prefer to) get to being in touch with the real Filipino people. These shows do not hide the fact that majority of Filipinos are not educated well. Heck, the shows seemingly take advantage of this. It DOES help draw an audience I suppose.

Example: The answer is "Astronaut".

Several clues were given, such as:

-Starts with the letter "A"

-People who have this job work in space

-People who have this job wear space suits

The only answer out of 8(!) real Filipino adults

-A...(stuttering)...Atlantic!!

Okay, I was reeeeaaalllyy trying not to watch, but I just had to yell "#&$^!" at the television.

Talent shows typically have dancers and singers, groups or individuals, nothing special, for me anyway, typically typical. But there was this one contestant sometime ago on "Pilipinas Got Talent", an official policeman in full uniform was dancing some kind of robot dance. He was really working for it;sweating like crazy, and the crowd loved it; laughing and cheering. But I don't think it helped the image of Philippine law enforcement and discipline much. Since he was in uniform, he represented Philippine law enforcement, and the law is supposed to be feared and respected for proper order, not smiled and laughed at for dancing.

Popular televised Philippine dramas are usually dreamy, sugar-coated, full-of-heartthrobs-for-the-typical-young-Filipino, often campy, feature fictitious lives of social classes above the masses and when-some-characters-get-mad-or-serious-they-suddenly-speak-in-English(?).

Yeah, understood, it's a drama, this sells to most, what's new? But still, it has the tendency to strengthen the beliefs of the masses that English is the language of the rich, lowering national pride somewhat and widening the gap of rich and poor.

Even Filipino stars don't help much with national pride with certain hosts of game shows exclaiming "Sosyal!" when someone speaks in English or the topic has something to do with anything of higher standards than the masses. "Sosyal" means high class or "Ooh, rich." in modern Fil lingo.

Regarding electronic media, the popular Mikey Bustos videos are received rather well by Filipinos. He makes fun of Philippine behavior by reenacting it with some exaggerations, recording it, and uploading it on Youtube. Based on my observations, something is usually made fun of due to it being different from the norm (abnormal, defective).

In conclusion, (and, well, to summarize the little mess up there)

Popular images being created to represent modern Filipino national identity are, if broken down to basics, are those of happy, dancing Filipinos who laugh at their shortcomings.

Philippines, one of the happiest countries in the world: SITE

Sample of Mikey Bustos Video: LINK