GE 6222 / Philippine Popular Culture

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Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

Module 13: Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

Course Learning Outcomes:

1. Define pop culture.

2. Describe Pop Icon or Identity.
3. Enumerate the famous Philippine pop icons or identities.

Popular culture

Popular culture (also known as pop culture) is commonly recognized by members of a society as a
collection of behaviors, values, and artifacts that govern or predominate in a society at a given time point.
Popular culture often includes the behaviors and feelings produced by the contact with these dominant
objects. Highly influenced by the mass media in modern times, this set of ideas permeates people's daily
lives in a given society. Popular culture therefore has a way to affect an individual's attitudes to other
subjects. There are also various ways of describing pop culture. Because of this, popular culture is
something that can be interpreted by different people in different contexts in a number of contrasting ways.
It is typically interpreted in relation to other types of culture such as folk culture, work-class culture, or
high culture, and also through various theoretical viewpoints such as psychoanalysis, structuralism,
postmodernism, and more. The most popular types of pop culture are: entertainment (such as movies,
music, television and video games), sports, news (as in news reports about people / places), politics,
fashion, technology, and slang.

Pop Icon

A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or entity whose presentation in popular culture is considered to be a
defining characteristic of a given society or age. The use of the term is essentially arbitrary because
certainly no objective standards exist. Typically the categorization is correlated with such elements as
durability, ubiquity and differentiation. In addition, the status of "rock icon" can be differentiated from
other forms of popularity outside of mainstream culture, for example with historical figures. Some
historical figures are recognized as having attained the status of "pop icon" during their period, and that
status can continue into the present.

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Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

Pop Culture Icons of the Philippines

1. Leah Salonga

The Filipino singer and actress. She is best known for creating Kim's leading role in the Miss
Saigon musical, for which she won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theater
World Awards. She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and Fantine in Les Misérables
on Broadway. She also performed the vocals of two Disney "princesses": Jasmine in Aladdin
(1992) and Fa Mulan in Mulan (1998) and Mulan II (2004).

2. . Levi Celerio
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Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

Levi Celerio is a Filipino composer and lyrist. He was a creative songwriter, with more than 4,000
songs to his credit, including Filipino folk, Christmas, and love songs that are popular songs that
many consider to be immortal.

3. Raymundo Cipriano Pujante Cayabyab

Raymundo Cipriano Pujante Cayabyab is well known to the music industry. His works range from
commissioned full-length ballets, theater musicals, choral pieces, a mass set to unattended
choruses and orchestral pieces, to commercial recordings of popular music, film scores and
television specials.

4. . Freddie Aguilar

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Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

Freddie Aguilar is best known for his rendition of "Bayan Ko," which became the anthem of
opposition to the Marcos regime during the 1986 People's Power Revolution, and for his song
"Anak," the best-selling Philippine record of all time. He is heavily associated with the rock of
Pinoy. He is well known internationally, as well as in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific, claiming
fame as one of the best musician-songwriters in the Philippines.

5. Gloria Diaz

In 1969, Gloria Diaz captured the Philippines Miss Universe title and in 1973, Miss Margarita
Moran competed again. Gemma Cruz wore the Miss International crown in 1964, Aurora Pijuan in
1970 and Melanie Marquez in 1979. Filipino women have also won four times since 1965 for the
Miss Asia Pacific title. Ines Zaragoza took the crown home in 1982, Gloria Dimayacyac in 1983,
Lorna Legaspi in 1989, and Michelle Aldana in 1993.
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Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

6. . Jose Garcia Villa (Doveglion)

One of the finest contemporary poets in the world, was Jose Garcia Villa (Doveglion). Critics
lauded Villa, who lived much of his life in an apartment in New York, for her exquisite poetry.
American poet, that is,. Cummings also wrote a poem for Villa, Doveglion, Adventures in Worth.

7. Fernando Poe Jr.

Fernando Poe Jr. is the "King of Action Movies." He has dominated the local big screen for more
than four decades now, even putting another actor and colleague in the sideline who has been
more active in politics.

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Philippine Identities & Pop Culture

8. Rodolfo “Dolphy” Quizon

The King of comedy is Rodolfo "Dolphy" Quizon. He shared with the filipino audience many
moments of great laughs. Dolphy fascinated the country as an actor and prime comedian with his
physical comedy and classic jokes.

9. Manny Pacquiao

Manny Pacquiao-Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao-is a former Filipino boxer and politician. He is a

world champion in eight divisions, the first boxer in history to win ten world titles, the first to win
eight weight divisions, and the first to win the linear championship in four different weight
classes. The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) has called him "Fighter of the Decade"
for the 2000's.
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Reference/s and Supplementary Material/s

Online Supplementary Reading Material/s

1. Sagisag; https://sagisag.com/article/642/technology/the-implications-of-social-
media-in-the-philippines; April 27, 2020
2. Leah Salonga’s Photo retrieved from https://entertainment.inquirer.net/325260/lea-
salonga-on-theatergoers-who-use-their-phones-zero-manners-breeding on April 27,
2020
3. Levi Celerio’s Photo retrieved from
https://elizasroblesgmail.wordpress.com/2018/07/15/levi-celerio-philippine-
national-artists-in-literature-and-music/ on April 27, 2020
4. Ryan Cayabyab’s Photo retrieved from https://www.songhits.ph/ryancayabyab on
April 27, 2020
5. Freddie Aguilar’s Photo retrieved from https://twitter.com/Ka_FreddieA/media on
April 27, 2020
6. Gloria Diaz’ Photo retrieved from https://www.picuki.com/tag/GloriaDiaz on April
27, 2020
7. Fernando Poe Jr.’s Photo retrieved from
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/fernando-poe-jr on April 27, 2020
8. Dolphy’s Photo retrieved from
https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/spotlight/remembering-dolphy/8415-
why-dolphy-is-not-yet-a-national-artist on April 27, 2020
9. Manny Pacquiao’s Photo retrieved from
https://www.scmp.com/sport/boxing/article/2181543/manny-pacquiao-
philippines-president-boxing-icon-plays-down-succeeding on April 27, 2020
10. Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture; April 27, 2020
11. Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_icon; April 27, 2020

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