Symbols of Social Stratification in the Philippines Light coloring is correlated with intelligence and a light-skinned attractive person will receive advancement before his or her colleagues. Family position and patron-client associations are useful in achieving success. Money to buy consumer goods is an indicator of power. Owning a vehicle is a clear statement of a high social level. Women above the poverty level have extensive wardrobes. Sending one's children to the best schools is the most important indicator of social position. Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. defined as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature.“ studies new ways of seeing and of perceiving the world. White is Beautiful During the Spanish times: To be a prince or a princess in a komedya, one had to “look the part”. One had to have sharp nose, big eyes, small mouth, and most of all, white skin. He or she had to have magandang tindig, which is to be “tall like a man.” During the American regime: Bodabil not only singled out Filipinos who can do imitations but necessarily favored the Caucasian-looking either as the closer imitations of the “originals” or as “leading mans types”, above the “ethnic-looking” who, in spite of their superior talent, were relegated to slapstick comedians and roles of maids or minor friends. Shows are the Best Forms of Entertainment before: Komedya Sinakulo Zarzuela Dramas Bodabil
Stage show Hurrah for the Undergo In the Spanish times the two principal forms of literature and their dramatic counterparts set up two types of heroes for the indios edification and emulation. The pasyon and its dramatic counterpart, the sinakulo. The awits and koridos and their dramatic counterparts, the komedya and the moro-moro. During the American regime, usually has for heroines are, blushing rural maids, utusans, labanderas, tinderas of sampaguita or kakanin who are hounded by various relentless furies, represented by adject poverty by rich donyas, evil madastras, malicious mother-in-law, and ugly but well dressed step-sisters. All is Right In Spanish always ended all evil are rewarded.
in the World times, the colonial dramas with the affirmation that punished and all good are
In American times, the maudlin heroines and shy heroes of the dramas and zarzuelas were showered with happy endings usually in the form of marriage to a rich man’s son or daughter and were besieged by teary repentance of donyas, madrastas and sisters-in-law. IN RETROSPECT: NICANOR G. TIONGSON’S FOUR VALUES On this day (April 6) in 1977, Nicanor G. Tiongson’s Four Values in Filipino Drama and Film was published, making it 35 years old as of present. It originally app eared in Goodman Magazine and was subsequently printed in the succeeding years i n essay collections such as The Urian Anthology. Four Values contains bold obser vations made based on almost six decades of Filipino cinema which “started” in 1919 when Jose Nepomuceno’s Dalagang Bukid was released. In the essay, Tiongson articulates the values—or “disvalues,” as some would call it—prev alent in Filipino films during the 1970s and the decades preceding it. He provid es a concise history of Filipino cinema to trace the roots of these disvalues to earlier modes of expression such as stage performances (i.e. sarsuwela, moro-mo ro, bodabil) and popular literature that were introduced during the Spanish and American colonial periods. According to Tiongson the four disvalues that plagued Filipino cinema when he wrote Four Values are maganda ang maputi (white is beau tiful), masaya ang may palabas (shows are the best), mabuti ang inaapi (hurrah f or the underdog), and maganda pa ang daigdig (all is right with the world). Thes e disvalues satisfy the entertainment needs of the viewers. Due to the escapist tendencies of these four themes, liberation from socio-cultural, economic, and p olitical oppression becomes difficult to achieve—as far as the film industry is co
ncerned. Tiongson makes up for his criticism of Filipino cinema in the latter part of his essay by suggesting positive values that each correspond to the four disvalues he earlier listed down. These counterpoints are maganda ang kayumanggi (brown is beautiful), masaya ang palabas na may laman (shows with substance are the best) , mabuti ang may sariling isip at gulugod (it’s good to think and decide for onese lf), and gaganda pa ang daigdig (the world can indeed be more beautiful).
