LESSON 1: Nature and

Concepts of Popular
Culture
 Folk High Popular
Culture Culture Culture

-also know as elite culture

-refers to the traditional -encompasses the cultural
or refined culture. It
customs, beliefs, rituals products, trends, and
places emphasis on artistic
and practices of a practices that are widely
excellence, aesthetic
particular community. consumed and enjoyed by
refinement and intellectual
the general public.
depth.
 What is Philippine
Popular Culture all about
Philippines

Popular

Culture
 Philippine Popular Culture
Popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, and
objects that embody the most broadly shared
meanings of a social system.
 Nature of Popular Culture

1. Produced by cultural industries 3.It’s everywhere

Examples: Disney Corporation produces movies, Examples: T.V, movies, radio, commercials.
cartoons, amusement park, and merchandise.

4.Fills a social function

2.Differs from folk culture
-It serves as a cultural forum.
Folk culture- traditional activities that are
Examples: friends and family ask about your
not financially driven.
reaction to a new movie or show.
 Patterns of how People Consume Popular Culture

People seek or Cultural Texts: Encoding: Creating Decoding:

avoid specific Popular culture a message Interpreting the
forms of popular messages on T.V. -Institutions form message
culture. shows, movies, text by relying on -Our social identities
advertisements peoples identities help guide our
-reality T.V. shows
and then target interpretations as
others avoid them.
specific markets. decoders.
 Concepts of Popular Culture

Commercialization Commodification Consumption

The process of adding value

A social process by which The process of selecting and
to an idea, product or
an item is turned into a using a product.
commodity with the aim of
commodity in readiness to Consumption involves a
selling it and making a
be traded. conscious decision to engage
profit.
with a commodity.
 Concepts of Popular Culture

Continuity Change Conflict

The persistence or The alteration or A perceived

consistent existence of modificaton of cultural incompatbility of goals
cultural elements in a elements in a society. or actions.
society across met. Change to society can
occur at the micro, meso
and macro level.
 Concepts of Popular Culture
Ideology

Institutional Power

Values

Paraphernalia

An organised
collection or body of
ideas that refects the The power that
Deeply held ideas and
beliefs, values and exists in institutions
beliefs that guides our
interests of a group, and how it is used to
thinking, language and
system, institution or control aspects of Items or equipment
behaviour.
nation. society. that accompanies
popular culture.
 LESSON 2: Context of Philippine
Popular Culture (Evolution of
Philippine Popular Culture: Past &
Present)
The term "popular culture" was coined in
the mid-19th century, and it referred to
the cultural traditions of the people, in
contrast to the "official culture" of the
state or governing classes.
The advent of
American
colonialism
brought, the
properly so-
called, popular
culture to the
Philippines.
 1. Popular Culture during Pre-colonial Period
Before the Spanish occupied the Philippines, the country was already
rich with local cultural history ranging from trading interactions with
the Chinese, Japanese, to engaging with Islamic leaders from the Middle
East and eventually spreading Islam.
 Babaylan -refers to the
pre-colonial Philippine
tradition of female mystical Bathala- who created
healers. earth and man.

Animism -was widely

practiced in the pre-
colonial Philippines.
 1. Datu
Social Status:
(ruling class)
2. Maginoo
(noble class)
3. Maharlika
(Warrior class)
4. Timawa
(freemen)

5. Alipin
(dependent class)
 Dances:

Festival dances centered on

work related activities such as
hunting, planting, and
Courtship dances Religious dances were
harvesting, and sometimes
usually involved exchange integral to various rites
lasted for days.
of goods as well as associated with recovery from
flirtation. illness, funerals, and life after
death.
 Ways of Communication and Education

Baybayin -The term “baybayin” Umalohokan- refers to the town

comes from the Tagalog root word criers of precolonial barangays in
baybay, which means “to spell.” the Philippines.

The education of pre-Hispanic Filipinos was fit for the needs of

their times. There was no formal schooling.
 Staple food
Panag-etag and Panag-asin

Panagtapa and Panagkiing

Panagsuob and Panagbubod

 2. Popular Culture during Spanish Colonial Period

Spain opened up trade with other countries, and made profits.

During most of the Spanish colonial period, the Philippine
economy depended on the Galleon Trade which was inaugurated in
1565 between Manila and Acapulco, Mexico.
 Religion

Islam reached the Philippines in the 13th

century with the arrival of Muslim traders from
the Persian Gulf, Southern India, and their
followers from several sultanate governments in
the Malay Archipelago.

Christianity is the majority faith in the

Philippines, making up approximately 90% of
the population.
 Social Status:

1. Indios- person of pure 2. Insulares - Spaniards 3. Mestizos- mixed 4. Peninsulares-

Austronesian ancestry born in Philippines in Spanish Spaniard born in Spain
natives.
 Games and Dance
Skill games involving strategy included
tag games such as tubig-tubig,
dodging games such as bulan-bulan,
jumping games such as luksong tinik,
spinning of tops, and kite flying.

During the Spanish regime, Kuratsa was

one of the popular and best liked dances
in the country.
 Written Works

The first printing press ran by hand was

introduced in the University of Sto.
Tomas.

Doctrina Christiana is the first book

printed in the Philippines by being
chiseled on blocks of wood in 1593.
Education
Education was mostly run by
the Church. Spanish friars and
missionaries educated the
natives and converted
indigenous populations to the
Catholic faith.
 3. Popular Culture during American Period
One of the major economic policies promoted during the
American period was on strong commercial relations
between the U.S. and the Philippines.
 Religion
The Catholic Church
was disestablished as
the state religion, giving
Protestant missionaries
more opportunities to
enter the islands.
 Social Status:
Lower Class Upper Class
 Education
Similar to Athens
education, Americans trained and
educated soldiers for battle.

English was systematically

promoted as the language that
would “civilize” the Filipinos.

Introduction of the American

system of education
 Food

The American influence on Filipino cuisine most famously

brought the ideas of convenience in food preparation such
as canned foods, pre-packaged foods and fast food.
4. Popular Culture during Japanese Period

The Philippines had suffered great loss of life and tremendous

physical destruction by the time the war was over. An
estimated 527,000 Filipinos, both military and civilians, had
been killed from all causes; of these between 131,000 and
164,000 were killed in seventy-two war crime events.
Under the Japanese regime, the
teaching of Tagalog, Philippine
History, and Character
Education was reserved for
Filipinos.

Philippine Literature in English

was stopped and writers turned
to writing in Filipino.
LESSON 3:Philippine
Popular Culture in
Various Media
 History

The first Filipino printed was Tomas

Pinpin who came from Bataan.

They released the first newspaper in

the Philippines which was called La
Esperanza which was published in
1846.
In 1884, the first provincial newspaper
was published which was called El Eco
de Vigan. And in 1898, the first English
newspaper was published by the Manila
Times. The Manila Bulletin came shortly
after in1900.
 What is print media

Print media is any type of printed material

that provides people with information using
words and/or photos.
 Different Types of Print Media used by
Philippine Pop Culture

1.Broadsheet
A Broadsheet is a type of
newspaper that contains
important news and provides its
readers with detailed coverage
and stories.
 Different Types of Print Media used by
Philippine Pop Culture

2. Tabloid
A tabloid is a newspaper
that is usually half the size
of a broadsheet. It usually
contains the less serious
side of the news.
 Different Types of Print Media used by
Philippine Pop Culture

3. Magazines
A magazine, also called a
periodical, is a printed or digitally
published collection of texts
(essays, articles, stories, poems),
often illustrated, that is produced
at regular intervals (excluding
newspapers).
 BROADCAST MEDIA

Broadcast media involves

electronically and simultaneously
sending information containing
signals, print messages, and audio
or video content to a vast group of
recipients using television, radio,
newspapers, magazines, and digital
media including the Internet, emails,
and texts.
 The Effectivity of Broadcast Media in the Digital Age
Relevance
In the era of digital media,
broadcast media could appear
antiquated. However, it
continues to play a significant
role in reaching a large
audience with ideas, goods,
services, news, and
information.
Accessibility
Despite the Internet's
pervasiveness, television still
has a significant reach for
companies. And, make no
mistake, broadcasting is
driven by business.
Localized
The radio may only be a
little player in the world of
broadcast media, but it is
nonetheless a player.
Radio is cheaper to sell for
public relations and
advertising.
 INTERNET MEDIA

The Internet, a more participatory

form of mass communication that
is often referred to as "the Net"
or, less exactly, "the Web," can be
summed up as "a network of
networks."
 HISTORY
The internet was created in the
1960’s and the original purpose is to
make it easier for government researchers
to share information. Computers back
then were humungous and in order to
transfer information, it is need to be
transferred. Hence , the internet was
born.
It was called ARPANET (Advanced
Research Projects Agency Networks), it
was the name of the network which
evolved to what we know as internet. The
officially recognized birthday of the
internet is on January 1, 1983.
 Different Internet Media used by Popular Culture

1. Social Media/ Networks

Social Media is usually used for
sharing information, sharing memes,
interest and some people use it for
professional purposes (ie. Advertising,
businesses).
 Different Internet Media used by Popular Culture

2. Streaming Sites
Streaming sites are the parts of
the internet wherein you can
watch videos or stream music.
 Different Internet Media used by Popular Culture

3. Podcasts
Podcasts are audios which
talks about a single topic. It
is cross platform so users
can listen on any device
(computer, phone) anywhere.
LESSON 4: Philippine popular
culture and New Media:
Meme-ology
 (derived from the
Greek word, mimema)

-usually images with text, videos, GIFs, or just pieces of text,

typically humorous in nature, and are copied and spread rapidly by
internet users, often with slight variations – all over the world.
 TWO STREAMS

1. Cultural Studies: using 2. Visual/Textual Analysis:

memes as an entry point to confronting formal properties
study Internet subcultures of memes
 Types and Forms

1. Reaction Images
-Initially relied on
"relatable humor"
Types and Forms

2. Image Labeling
-Does away with
image/text boundary; text
coincides with figures in
the image which take on
conceptual properties.
 Types and Forms

3. Exploitable
▪ Maintain image/text
boundaries, usually feature
multiple panels or adhere to
a comic strip style
Types and Forms

4. Snowclones
-First defined by linguist Geoffery
K. Pullum as "a multi-use,
customizable, instantly
recognizable, time-worn, quoted
or misquoted phrase or sentence
that can be used in an entirely
open array of different variants"
 Types and Forms

5. Charts & Diagrams

▪ Informal category, but a
noticeable trend across
platforms.
▪ Concerned with organizing
concepts, ideas, people, and
sometimes other memes
 Types and Forms
6. Other Miscellaneous Types:
-Though these typologies share similarities with those
memes we have already covered, they are distinct enough
to warrant independent acknowledgment

a) Image Macros
o Highly legible/recognizable
format popular in the early
days on Internet meme-ing
a) Image Macros
 Types and Forms
6. Other Miscellaneous Types:

c) Minions
b) Deep Fried
Series of memes sharing some
Esoteric style of meme-ing
formal and tonal similarities which
involving over-processed visuals
employ Minions characters from
and highly redundant text.
Despicable Me (2010)
b) Deep Fried
c) Minions
 Types and Forms
6. Other Miscellaneous Types:
d) Blatant Misinformation e) Starter packs
o Recent trend that uses flagrantly incorrect o Initially involved only 4 images laid out in
information for the purposes of humor. the Twitter quad, evolved into
meticulously produced collages of
clothing, shoes, and pop-culture
consumables on IG.
d) Blatant Misinformation
e) Starter packs
LESSON 5: Culture and
the Society
 Culture is what
differentiates one group
or society from the next;
different societies have
different cultures.
 In 18th and 19th century Europe, the term
“culture” was equated with civilization and
considered a unique aspect of Western society.
 During the Romantic Era,
culture became equated with
nationalism and gave rise to
the idea of multiple national
cultures.
 Aspects of Culture
1. Material Culture
- refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people (such as
automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship).
 Aspects of Culture

2. Non-material culture
-it consists of the ideas, attitudes,
and beliefs of a society. Material
and nonmaterial aspects
of culture are linked, and physical
objects often symbolize cultural
ideas.