Erika Mae M. Rea
Prof. Jan Gabriel S. Boller
BSOA 3-1N
February 22, 2023
Synthesis Paper: Philippine Popular Culture
The Philippine Popular Culture subject deals with discussing the new schemes of arts,
music, and literature that certainly demands the presence of mass audience, media, and markets.
As well as it’s in line with the social, economic, and political context. The subject affirms to
unveil the classic forms of culture as well as to confer and explore the trends in the Philippine
culture that has been brought by various internal and external influences. Thus, under these
subject lines up the four topics that depict the factors of Philippine pop culture. According to
Kidd, popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly
shared meanings of a social system. It includes media objects, entertainment and leisure, fashion,
and trends. However, despite its provided definition there is still a dilemma that is affiliated with
popular culture.
Whereas the focal problem in popular culture is the line between “high” and “low”
culture. As a matter of fact, “high” culture is exemplified as a barrier for elite and lower-class
individuals. Therefore, to classify cultural items as high or low culture is by placing entire
domains and genres into one of the categories a priori (Peterson 1992; Peterson & Kern 1996;
Van Eijck 1998). Such as, classical music, the visual arts, and stage plays are often classified as
high culture. Meanwhile, romance novels, comic books, television and local music are for low
culture. With that fact, it manifests the imbalances. Social class standing matters the most to gain
access. High status people do not limit themselves while penniless people are solely content with
what is accessible to them. With nothing more, nothing less.
Nevertheless, popular culture is undeniably a reliable source of entertainment as it is the
primary role of pop culture after all. There are distinct ways in which anyone can actually relish
it. Whereas via mediation of media, the interactions are concrete through various platforms.
People may satiate their enjoyment by utilizing social media and platforms like Netflix,
YouTube. Moreover, mythmaking and semiology unveil and elaborate the idea to certain
individuals or things. For instance, Noli Me Tangere (signifier), that signified Philippine History.
Thus, the myth that circulates with it was about the Spanish colonization era, Enlightenment, and
Revolution. Nevertheless, as stated by Kidd, popular culture is seen as a set of commodities
produced through capitalistic processes driven by a profit motive and sold to consumers. With
that, it is often utilized by famous personalities to advertise the product they are
endorsing/selling to encourage individuals and followers to buy it out. Therefore, it implies
commodity as language due to the fact that individuals are influenced by the urge of curiosity
and as a part of adherents.
Further, globalization is indeed a society’s unprecedented changes that anyone couldn’t
foresee. As this indicates that the world today is more interconnected than before. According to
Levitt, globalization resulted in a new commercial reality. Business transactions lead to the
coalescence of products, marketing, and vital institutions of trading. Due to the fact that the
globalizations basic economic sense was precisely on trading markets globally. It manifests those
micro and macro brands in the market nowadays. Whereas enormous brands were the ones who
compete in the commerce. For instance, we Filipinos, have this colonial mentality that the
thinking about foreign products is always better and high quality, conversely to local ones that
are poor and no quality at all. With that, popular culture tends to be highly mediatized as an
uptrend manifestation today.
However, the politics of popular culture is apparent. In which, according to a journal
website, Popular culture is widely understood to intersect with and shape our understanding of
world politics. Various studies have highlighted the way film, television and other sites of
cultural production make their way into political discourses. For instance, showbiz personalities
turned to politics as their retirement plan. It is undeniably accurate that politics became an arena
for who’s famous by the vented fact that popularity matters over the handful politicians that
holds the idea of the betterment to everyone. Moreover, the middle-class perspective was an
ideal product of colonial society. Wherein you must need to grind and strive hard to become
successful in order to be part of the social ladder. Privilege ones are in the ruling class while to
attain vengeance in the middle-class blood, sweat, tears and college degree matters.
Indeed, Philippine Popular Culture serves as an effective way to establish relationship
and unite the masses ideals of acceptable forms of cultural aspects.