PHILIPPINE POPULAR CULTURE

Popular culture can be traced back to the Spanish period of the

Philippines.
It was employed and brought by the Spanish to the native Filipinos
through literature and plays to capture and plays to capture their hearts,
thus emphasizing the colonial origins of popular culture in the Philippines.

It began as a replacement of the native culture with a christian and

European traditional through the children of the native elites. They
became the means for appeasing the native through vernacular literary
forms. One such popular form was the representation of jesus christ’s
suffering and resurrection through plays or drama. This form served as
vessel for the spread of christianity while the song and comedy were
vessel for the Spanish monarchy.
Popular culture was introduced to the Philippines to win the
filipino populace to the ideology of the Spanish regime. It was
created to promote the church and the state’s interest When the
amecans came to nolonize the Philippines, the appropriately-
called popular culture was introduced to the Philippines. The
printing press, radio, television, angd film paved the way for the
speed circulation of popular culture forms.

According to bienvenido lumbera, popular literature is considered

a commodity and it is intended for a mass market. As a
commodity, it was seen as treat to “serious artistic work” because
the writers favored the desires of publishers and editors who were
more concerned with sales rather than aesthecs.
Popular culture in the Philippines is concern. Popular culture is in
question because of the following reasons.
1. The Philippines is a third world country.
2. the Philippines has many indigenous ethnic groups that are still
not urbanized
3. The Philippines has long history of two major cultural
influences: Spanish and American.
4. The Philippines is still predominantly agricultural in ist present
socio-economic status.
5. The Philippines is still dependent on foreign economies.

The definition of popular culture in the Philippines is not just “of

the people” but “of the mass”, which is bibasically construed to
be urban and industrialized.
Let us go through some of the major areas of the Philippines popular culture.
Komiks. “kenkoy” was the first filipino comic strip. Its firs appearance was in
1929, its main character was created by Antonio Velasquez. It was only
madewith four frames and was user as a filler for a weekly popular magazine
liwayway. In 1931, kenkoy was joined with other characters and they are:
1. kulafu.
2. huapelo.
3. saryong albularyo.
4. goyoand kikay.
5. dyesebel.
6. dama.
7. valentina.
8. petra.
9. karina.
10. phantomanok.