Blog Post: One

Kamusta kayo? That’s “how are you” in tagalog, one of the official languages of my home country, the Philippines. A brief history lesson… the Philippines was its own nation until the explorer Magellan found the over 7,000 islands that make up the country, claimed and colonized them in the name of Spain, and named them after the Spanish king, Philip II. For some, they may have the perception that Philippines is an “oriental” country with lanterns and dragon dances similar to the Chinese. However, the Philippines was under Spanish rule for over three hundred years and thus adopted many aspects of Latin culture, one of which is the fascination with love stories, drama and heartbreak that encompasses telenovela culture.

My background (born in the Philippines, raised in the United States) as a Filipino-American meant that my life was a mix of the two cultures; the only time I would have access to Filipino dramas were when my family went to other Filipinos’ homes and the Filipino channel was on television constantly because it was the favorite of the grandma of the home. Then when I visited my extended family in the Philippines, the dramas were what one would constantly watch as a way to bond with family and neighbors. Through this experience, I was able to expand my tagalog vocabulary whilst being entranced in captivating stories. 

Today in class, we discussed a specific definition of a “third-world country,” with Dr. A pointing out that one can find aspects of a “first-world country,” such as large and luxurious properties, within two blocks of extreme poverty and homelessness in the streets. The Philippines falls under this category; its people have lived through economic uncertainty and sudden twists of fate, and, through this experience, have heavily depended on telenovelas for “emotional relief,” creatively diverting their pain and suffering into art (Benavides article). 

In the Benavides article, the author states that the telenovela production has become economically successful because it is able to use a people’s culture to their advantage, and thus successfully reproduce these shows in other countries and even continents. There is just enough similarities and universal themes in the show that people across the world understand and emotionally react to the underlying storyline. Perhaps the same can be said of modern Filipino dramas as my chosen telenovela for this course, Bridges of Love, gained enough international traction that it was picked up by a Peruvian network and dubbed in Spanish, its title translated to Puentes de Amor. 

As of today, I am only several episodes in out of nearly one hundred total episodes, but I am excited to keep track of the storyline and compare and contrast its elements against Latin American telenovelas as we’ve discussed thus far in our course.