HUM080 Lecture

By Prof. Melannie Flor Irene R. Dela Cruz

As time passes, popular culture also changes.
Examining popular culture through a historical approach can provide us
insights about current popular culture.
 In her work, “Philippine
Popular Culture: Dimensions and
Directions. The State of Research
in Philippine Popular Culture,”
(1981) Doreen G. Fernandez
described the nature of
Philippine pop culture from a
historical perspective.
• Pop culture is not just “of the people,”
but more specifically of the mass.
• Pop culture is mass media-generated.
• Mass media-generated culture in the
Philippines is what can be properly
called popular culture.
• The study of popular culture started
out as mass communications
research.
- Due to economics, the availability of electronic media (film, radio, TV, press)
is mostly and exclusively urban.
- Not all areas in the Philippines are urbanized, especially during the previous
decades.
• Electronic media -- film, radio, television, press-- were established early in the
twentieth century in the Philippines.
• The study of popular culture started out as
mass communications research.
• Mass communication was recognized as
a vital, current field of endeavor and
inquiry
• Sending of scholars abroad, and them
returning with questions about the
Philippine situation
• Establishment of the University of the
Philippines Institute of Mass
Communication
• Researches were concerned with content
(content analysis) and audience effects.
• Scholars examined film,
television, radio, comics as
modes of fiction and drama.
• Scholars were interested in
what cultural values were being
transmitted through the said
mediums.
• How well was the transmission
being done?
• To whom, with what effect,
and to what purpose?
• Since 1972, and during martial law,
there were few outlets for short stories
and poems.
• Liwayway was the only outlet, along
with its regional versions, for popular
novels.
• Plays were hardly published except in
university-based publications, and
performances are not very
accessible.
• Philippine Popular Culture is mass-media generated culture in the Philippines.
• Different levels of urbanization made access to certain media vary across
different places in the country.
• Technological advancements, urbanization, and other things that can affect
culture and society can affect popular culture.
• Fernandez, Doreen (1981). Philippine Popular Culture: Dimensions and
Directions. The State of Research in Philippine Popular Culture. Philippine
Studies vol 29. No. 1. p, 26-44. Philippine Studies, Ateneo de Manila University
• Storey, John (2006). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction,
Pearson Education Limited

Thank you ☺