satire
–noun
1. the use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like, in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, etc.
2. a literary composition, in verse or prose, in which human folly and vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule.
3. a literary genre comprising such compositions.
If you want to see a Filipino excited over something other than a Manny fight. Show them a comedy that mentions or depicts a Filipino. Then all these sensitive people with too much time want to protest their nation's "portrayal" in a comedy or satire.
Now for all of you that have ever felt persecuted by the Desperate Housewives one liner of the Med School or Chip Tsao ( who I guarantee you have all never heard of before that incident) or the that British Comedy with the pinay maid. Please put yourselves in the shoes of the contemporary German.
Listen to Brad Pitt's speech in the movie. He talks about killing Germans. He says they have no humanity. He talks about being cruel. He talks about disfigured bodies. To one and only one nationality. The Germans. A far cry from a line in a sitcom about a medical school dont cha think? When you compare the Pinay maid to what happens in Inglourious Basterds, at least she has humanity.
But did you read or hear about Germans spending one nano second protesting this? Any boycotts called for Tarantino or Brad Pitt? Did any Filipino watching this movie feel the need to protect the dignity of the German people? Or do they think it's OK to mock other races not just the Pinoy race. Which country Germany or the Philippines has a lot more going on in terms of economic progress? Which country is more literate? Which country has better self esteem? These are just questions I have to ask.
While we are on the topic of cinema and people taking fiction and satire way too seriously let me tell you about a local example. Pinoy on Pinoy crime if you will. Back in 2001 there was a movie called The Red Diaries. Which is a blatant rip off of the Zalman King/ David Duchovny Red Shoe Diaries. I bring this up because think of all the crime dramas you have ever seen in your life. Whether its the Untouchables or Miami Vice or Godfather or the Sopranos. You will always see corrupt cops. So it surprised me that the Philippine National Police made a big stink about corrupt cops being depicted in the movie Red Diaries. When I was taking up Marketing Management at LSGSB , Professor Perlas brought in the Public Relations Officer for the PNP. I asked him why the organization was so against that depiction in a fictional movie. I can not remember 7 years later his exact words though I can quote this exact phrase "tama na". What he meant by that was that we had enough , please stop it. But corrupt cops exist in real life and in reel life. It is not unique to our culture so what gives them the moral high ground to wish it would not be depicted in movies. They want a cinematic world where all cops live off their salary and keep their marriage vows sacred and do not deal drugs. That kind of film genre is called science fiction. Remember that the next time you see traffic enforcement stop private cars so that they can be bribed while jeepney drivers who defy the law of gravity can keep on keeping on.
So the next time a bunch of pinoys complain about pinoy portrayal in some foreign comedy, please remember the following:
a) All pinoys behave with utter dignity and completely have no flaws so no use portraying them as anything short of that.
b) pinoy humor is completely high brow so please remember that if you decide to put them in your sitcom. They totally understand satire and eschew slapstick.
c) Filipinos do not have an iota of racism in them. They treat every race on the face of the earth as equal brothers. They would appreciate it if you did the same. It is easier to find a jeepney driver named Svend than it is to find a racist Filipino.
d) Finally the Philippines is a feminist utopia. Every single political, social and commercial institution here treats all the women of this land with respect and dignity. This is specially true in all the tourist trap areas and high end hotels. So the typical Filipino can not comprehend why the BBC show Harry and Paul would portray a pinay maid in such a fashion.
e) If you take bullets a-d seriously and at face value please download the famous words of Charlie Brown in the Multiply version of this post as made popular by Eric Karabell, Jay Soderberg and Peter Pascarelli.
Edhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293552/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293552/trivia
Adolf Hitler: [slamming his hand on a table] Nein nein nein nein nein nein!
Lt. Aldo Raine: My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I'm putting together a special team, and I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers. Now, y'all might've heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we'll be leaving a little earlier. We're gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we're in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin' guerrilla army, we're gonna be doin' one thing and one thing only... killin' Nazis. Now, I don't know about y'all, but I sure as hell didn't come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fuckin' air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain't got no humanity. They're the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin', mass murderin' maniac and they need to be dee-stroyed. That's why any and every every son of a bitch we find wearin' a Nazi uniform, they're gonna die. Now, I'm the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger. That means I got a little Injun in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance. We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are. And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German won't not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they're tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good?
The Basterds: YES, SIR!
Lt. Aldo Raine: That's what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y'all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin'.
Lt. Aldo Raine: You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, Business is a-boomin'.
Original version of post
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/1071/At_Least_No_Fictional_Character_Ever_Said_The_Pinoy_aint_got_no_humanity.
Chip Tsao
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/633/Questions_for_the_Chip_Tsao_Firing_Squad_Part_1
Desperate Housewives
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/401/Desperate_Housewives_and_Filipinos_as_Moral_Beacons_Update_
Enthusiastic Pinay Maid in British Comedy Sketch
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/339/Here_We_Go_Again_Filipinos_Moral_Beacons_of_the_World_
Related
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/654/Colin_Again_Explains_a_lot_of_things_About_Our_Lives_
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/4/Desperate_Hook_Line_SInker
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/quotes
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/864/_Dont_Point_the_Finger_At_Willie
http://cornholiogogs.multiply.com/journal/item/349/Last_of_the_Trilogy_an_Inquiry_into_Symbolism
Attachment: Charlie Brown.mp3
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Originally published Feb 12 2010.
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