On
indication of learning is discomfort, I had experience such during the reports
done by other groups and while making ours ourselves. Being a young adult, I had dreams of changing
the world. But what I did not acknowledge that it was already shaping and
changing before I could even begin at step one. That is when I realize that to
change the big things, first you must notice the little things in the world and
I saw that in the commercials shown during the program. They were shaping the
people’s minds before the people could even realize such. Additionally, I also
learned that to conclude that something is evil, toxic or harmful. One must put
things into context. Not every jargon fad in required to be plastered in every statement
to prove a point. Being “woke” is good. But digging things into deeper context
is before concluding is better.
The
commercials viewed by my group and others are seemingly innocent. But once a
pattern is established, things start getting sketchy. For once, commercials
always portray women as the one washing clothes or doing the chores. It was
never men, as men are always portrayed as the successful ones. One example is
the Emperador commercial that Coco Martin is featured it has the lyrics “Galing
ng Pilipino, iwagayway” a great sense of nationalism yet sketchy since it noticeably
had a man in front and the women are in the sidelines, it can also be noticed
that men came from office work and women are from drinking with friends. Little
things matter in sublime messages such as this. Another thing that commercials
are doing is that they expose insecurity of young people today, especially the young
Filipina. It has been enforced in commercials such as “Dove”, “cream silk”, and
more beauty products that white skin and straight long hair is the standard of
beauty contrary to the natural curly and brown skin of Filipinos. Often asked
is why Filipinos are obsessed with white skin, such researched were done when
the answer is simple. It was embedded in us in those innocent advertisements.
Discomfort
is what I felt because when I saw things in perspective, I may have noticed it
but in context, I am also a buyer or a victim of that mentality. One way or
another I have woken up to late in realizing these things, the good news is
that I can still act upon it and do everything in my power to change it.
Another discomfort I felt is that I want to do something upon it but there is
only so much that this young man can do. The media has become too powerful to
conquer and it is only a matter of time until most are influenced by it. I just hope that most people would realize how
the media affects us before we all succumb to it.
Despite
my criticism to media, I applaud the part where most commercials are family
oriented. Considering that it is a culture of Filipino, it was a great show of
context. Appealing to the mass while establishing what is important. Though
there were criticisms that familial culture is the reason that the Philippines is
poor, one cannot deny that the love for family is something that cannot be
erased within us. Using familial context is fine so why can’t commercials just
do that? Instead of exposing our insecurities and enforcing norms, there is a
way for media to become healthy; it just takes the right amount of execution.
Media
is not limited to the commercials on televisions but they also extend on
internet platform. I have noticed that the word “toxic masculinity” has been
thrown as usual than before. This may seem biased in my opinion but not all
things are toxic masculinity. Some things should be put on context is what I am
saying. They keep saying toxic masculinity but fail to prove how. I see this as
an example how people are desperate to appear “woke” or open to trends that
they conclude even without deeper understanding of the context. Such phrase is
thrown around but when men are criticized for doing household chores, they turn
a blind eye on it. Research and finidng proof is essential before making ones judgment
and this apply to everything. May it be ordinary people, work or literally
anywhere you converse.
In
conclusion, putting things into context is important in analyzing critical
things and jumping to conclusions would not do any good as it raises more
problem than before. Overall, it was enlightening and made me realize that
there are more things that I would need to study more onto.
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