Pinoy

I love watching movies. Any movie I can get my hands on, I would watch. I go to Blockbuster about twice a week to swap rented DVDs. Regularly. And we regularly watch HBO. And with the advent of TiVo, we don't have to wait up for our favorite series(es?) on TV anymore. So we watch those, too.

Recently, I noticed that some TV series and Hollywood movies have references to the Philippines. J and I have talked about this once and we assume it is because Pinoys have gone global. By this, I am not merely speaking about a few Pinoy actors doing Hollywood films: such as Billy Joe Crawford in the Prequel to the Exorcist (shame that this version was only released straight to video), or Cesar Montano starring next to James Franco in The Great Raid, or Sigaw being adapted into The Echo. More amusing, for me, are those small, trivial references, the type that would catch you off-guard. Those usually surprise me, so much that it would make me want to rewind the movie to hear it again.

Recently, I was watching Let's Go to Prison on DVD while folding clothes. I guess I wasn't paying too close attention that when I heard someone screaming "P^+@%$*%@! Anong kailangan mo?!" from the TV, I was startled. Then I jumped for the remote to play it back and laugh about it for about 20 minutes before letting the film resume. Funny that the subtitle said [screaming in Korean] when it was clearly in Tagalog. And then there was Constantine. At the exorcism scene near the start of the film, the possessed woman was speaking in Tagalog, too. Of course that the Ewoks spoke Tagalog in Return of the Jedi is probably old news. And in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, the pirates they ran into were Filipino. (D mentioned just now: In The Cat in the Hat, the crate of the mother of messes is "Made in the Philippines.")

And on TV, there are several moments in Family Guy: Brian's cousin's boyfriend is Filipino. He mentioned in one of the episodes that the boyfriend recently came back from the Philippines, so they had lumpia (funny how they say it: lump-ya) for dinner. In another episode, they described The Rock as "definitely having some Filipino in there." Also, there was a conversation between Quagmire and Brian where Brian mentioned Quagmire just came back from the Philippines. In Scrubs, Dr. Kelso mentioned his son having a Filipino boyfriend. And in The Office, Michael Scott said about Karen Filippelli, "Filippelli.....maybe she's from the Philippines."

True, it may be in part that Filipinos are getting more visible around the globe. Filipinos are everywhere nowadays, and at the same time, foreigners are flocking our beaches after recommendations from Pinoys they have met. But then again, some references in movies and TV, while not exactly being derogatory, aren't uplifting in character either. This, I think, might be accounted for by Pinoy contributors to writing the script. If it is true that it is part of our nature to inject as much of ourselves to things we do as much as we can, then imagine someone writing a script and thinking how he can include Uncle or Aunt or cousin as an extra. It might be as small a part as a beggar, but to be seen on the big screen, that's something. And internationally? Who'd say no? Think Rob Schneider -- his mom played bit parts in several of his films. Isn't that very Pinoy? And of course, there is also the matter of us being able to laugh at ourselves. Although I know a lot of people who are pikon, most of those I get to be around are game at playing laughingstock.

But at the end of the day, I guess it all comes down to being able to tell the world that you've been there -- a message to all Pinoys that there is a fellow countryman somewhere making a mark. In time, I know we'll all have our chance to leave our marks, but until we get there, in our own small ways, we can still show the world how we are Proudly Pinoy.