The teleserye and molding a nation

One day, we find our two girlfriends A and B in the midst of loud and excited discussions. The teleserye Dahil sa Pag-ibig had just ended with Cristine Reyes (as Jasmin) parting ways with Piolo Pascual (Fr. Alfred), Jericho Rosales (Oliver Falcon) getting married to Maricar Reyes (Agnes Javier). Administering their marriage vows was Piolo’s character. Accepting punishment in prison for his misdeeds was Christopher de Leon (as Leo Valderama).

A was unhappy with the series, B welcomed it from ABS-CBN as a way of improving the treatment of teleseryes in our country. The latest buzz in town, however, was that the serye topbilled by Piolo, everyone’s favorite leading man ended because it was a flop. The argument between A and B, strangely enough was not that it performed badly, but why it ended.  

“Kasi naman,” says A, “everyone knows how much in love Piolo and Cristine were with each other from childhood. Dapat they ended with each other and Piolo leaving the priesthood.”

“You are so pedestrian,” retorts B. “You are the reason this country has not progressed for years while the rest of Asia has gotten ahead of us.”

A snorts saying, “Akala ko we were discussing Dahil sa Pag-ibig and not the future of the Philippines.”

B cracks, “But don’t you see the analogy between a plot like that of Dahil and our country’s performance? Tell me, why is Walang Hanggan (currently on extended run) so popular?”

A quickly responds, “Siyempre kasi they want for Coco and Julia, as well as Goma and Dawn to end up with each other. Why do you think pinatay nila si Rita Avila sa plane crash?”

“Why?” B prods on, already mildly irritated. A declares, “Para maging free si Goma to marry Dawn, di ba?” “Precisely,” B smiles, “and we are falling once again into the folly of giving the audience what they want and perpetuating mediocrity in this country because that is what the people want.” “Naku, walang pupuntahan ang usapang ito,” says A. “Kain na lang tayo,” as the two friends head for Jollibee.

The true-to-life exchange above reminds us of a seminar arranged last year on the subject The Teleserye as a Vehicle for Social Transformation in the Philippines by Dr. Trinidad Osteria, president, Yuchengco Center, De La Salle University. She stated, “Among the media forms, television is deemed as the most influential and powerful tool in disseminating information, opinions and perceptions. About 96 percent of Filipino households own a television and 70 percent watch teleseryes. When Filipinos live their lives, they insist that what happened to them could be the same as the teleseryes — including the fantasies. Those behind the teleserye should know how their presentation can affect the preservation or destruction of moral and social values of society.”

One of the speakers Jose Bartolome, AVP for Program Analysis of GMA Network, Inc., spoke on leading networks GMA and ABS-CBN in a close race in terms of ratings, especially in the teleseryes. “There are days that ABS-CBN leads, other days, it is GMA. The challenge is how one can use this powerful medium, the teleserye or the soap opera to deliver messages for social and moral transformation. The networks want high ratings. The advertisers’ interest is to sell their products. The televiewers want entertainment. If the viewer has financial worries or lives in poverty, he/she wants to be entertained by TV shows to forget his/her problems. If one wants to change the world and use the soap opera as a medium: Educate, instruct and transform, is it possible? That is the challenge.”

On his part, Nestor Torre, teacher, scriptwriter, director for theater, television and film, entertainment editor and columnist, shared that “Teleserye villains have been made so neurotically attractive and compelling that viewers ‘enjoy’ their monstrous antics more than the predictable niceness and helplessness of the bidas whose existence they make a living hell. Both bidas and kontrabidas in many teleseryes have a negative influence on viewers because they are, in different ways, antithetical to the strong, self-aware and proactive Filipinos needed for our collective moral and social development. The weak and eternally suffering bida and the powerfully vicious and vengeful kontrabida are precisely the characters not needed to develop into a dynamic people and nation. Better and more enlightening role models are needed in TV dramas for the country, especially the youth, to rise above a colonial, self-defeating past, and truly come out as a proud, engaged and self-empowered nation.”

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