Glamorization of anti-intellectualism in Philippine media, cinema, and literature WRITTEN BY MIKAELA GABRIELLE P. DE CASTRO “Edi ikaw na magaling!”
and diligent communications agent from New York in the film Four Sisters and A Wedding. As “Nakakanosebleed!” she returned to her home country, her family saw her as “ambisyosya”, constantly degrading “Share mo lang?” her wit and making disdainful comments Words of ignorance and prejudice continue towards her fluency in the English language. to emerge in the media industry as facets Through these characters, writers unveil a of anti-intellectualism. Anti-intellectualism, revelation of how we perceive intellectualism, also known as “smart-shaming”, refers to the mirroring the toxicities and harm these factors disfavor and hostility towards intellectual bring. This creates a hindrance in creating behavior and activities such as condemning meaningful discourses, exchanging relevant literature, education, and art. Ingrained in information, and expressing worthwhile and Filipino teleseryes are multiples tendencies of significant insights and opinions, which confine glorifying ignorance, along with self-deprecating stories, narratives, and issues that contribute jokes, which translate into the characterization to knowledge, truth, and values we uphold. of how roles in Filipino mainstream media Furthermore, smart-shaming instigates portray the shaming of individuals for expressing and misunderstandings logical and analytical behavior. This exhibits a misconceptions that form barriers and cut the progressive negative connotation towards intellectualism, bridge towards being analytical, having a with incomprehension and lack of knowledge stance, and arriving at a comprehensive subjected to comedy and entertainment. understanding in tackling societal issues. Another factor that contributes to anti- It dismisses the essence of the pragmatic intellectualism is the suspicious perception and aspects of rationalization and upholding of notion of Filipinos towards the English language. one’s principles. It has transcended into a The omnipresence of this behavior has been conventional phenomenon that continues to circulating prevalently, as the English language normalize these concretizations and depictions has become an unjust basis to determine one’s of our abstractions and perceptions. social class, education, and intellect, which may In order to reduce the stigma of this trace back to the roots of colonialism faced by phenomenon, we must be observant and critical the Philippines’ long history. This trait is often individuals, watchful whenever occurrences exhibited in Filipino teleseryes as portrayed by of smart-shaming arise. It is essentially characters with exaggerated gestures and lines important to avoid making irrelevant remarks, that hint to Western influences, primarily using and instead, encourage and engage in healthy the English language to define social class. In discussions, discourses, and credible research. the conventions of Philippine culture, characters who speak English are often associated with Open-mindedness, integrity, and willingness wealth, intellect, and privilege, creating different to learn more discoveries and create more stereotypes. An example is the character of Bea insights are vital, as these allow us to arrive at Alonzo, who played the role of Bobbie, a bright a common understanding.
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