Destination Unknown

Media are the avenue for mass communication. What media say, much of the populace take into heart. This means information that gets bruited around a newscast gets a reasonable amount of credence, and information as such has a great influence on other people’s line of thinking.

In other words, what newschannels choose to broadcast will affect others opinion on what issues we should be passionate about. TV programs tell us what kind of culture we’re promoting. All the spectacle appearing on TV has a subliminal impact on those witnessing it.

This is why sometimes I have the strong urge to turn off the damn TV at the bus, because there are three issues recently being a hot topic that I want to actually discuss right now.

First, it’s about Filipinos climbing Mt. Everest. Almost since time imemorial have mountain climbers dared to undergo the perilous journey to reach the peak of world’s tallest mountains. The first who climbed the mountain certainly deserve recognition. The first who reached the peak in the shortest amount of time also deserve recognition. Indeed, word is that as more and more people reached its peak, less and less its word got spread, because people have moved on to more challenging things. Why GMA and ABS, two major TV companies of the Philippines, choose to hype up the event is downright disturbing. Let me tell you I have nothing against people scaling the cliffs of Mt. Everest but with this amount of hype surrounding an event that’s supposed to mark "The first Filipino to climb Mt. Everest" mediamen are unaware that they are marketing Filipinos as people desperate for attention. Frankly, props should be given to our countrymen’s industrial undertakings when we have achieved something no one has done before, not when we’re just imitating other’s success. Blind men have already scaled the cliffs before us. Why all the fuss?

Speaking of imitation, a new sitcom just premiered last week, and it’s titled "I Luv New York". Personally, I’d rather call it "I Luv Ripping Off", "Milan 3" or "Big Piece of Trash". Just how many "soul-searching in foreign lands" stories should Filipino producers and directors be adorning the silverscreen/TV with before they realized that frankly, we’re tired of seeing the rehash of the same formula and that "Milan", "Dubai" was not even a foundation where a good storytelling should be built upon, because they’re mainly prosaic formulaic love stories that happen to have unfamiliar sceneries. None of these three have even come close to emulating the critical acclaim of "Lost In Translation" so why not do something different? Why repeat the same tired idea over and over? And just how long did it take the producers/directors to think up of the title? I’m willing to bet it all sparked from their buying the glut of "I Love New York" shirts of different varieties found in nearly all New York souvenir shops. Copycats!

Lastly, I’m perplexed at what’s so worth broadcasting about Captain Barbell’s costume, a no-personality variation of justice-serving ubiquitous comic superhero, being tailored by the same person as Batman’s of Batman Begins? What’s that to be proud of? Hell, yeah, I own a pair of shoes tailored by the same group of people as Shaq’s. Should I appear on the news now? Why not come back when Captain Barbell actually has a plot as deep as "The Long Holloween" or "Superman for All Seasons"? Whatever happened to "sitting down to think it over"? Is it so much to ask that a director of Filipino cinema to actually write a story? I guess it just may be because far as I know, there are many Filipino creatives receiving glory among the esoterics while the vicious copycats basking in mainstream’s glory.

Oh woe is Filipino TV!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 24th, 2006 at 2:50 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.