Ongkingco
All, except one, were widows at their annual batch reunion. The atmosphere was high with news about whos and wheres. Restaurants and fashion lines also landed on the table overflowing with assorted rich dishes and desserts that were slowly being devoured.
“Did you visit their new store in the main avenue?” said a woman whose teeth steadily concentrated on chewing some tough meat and vegetables.
“Yes, but I prefer their older branch in the other side of town,” replied a lady who steadied her oversized psychedelic sunshades with her wrist since her hands had just pried open a crab swimming in garlic sauce and boiled potatoes.
“And you, Ethel? What have you been up to these days?” Someone asked.
She was the shortest and the skinniest in the reunion. Ethel was concentrating on the oyster she was savoring. Lowering her utensils, she gently wiped her lips.
“I’m now watching a very addicting Korean telenovela!” she said in a very soft and mischievous tone.
“At your age?” the crab lady remarked.
“At whose age? Maybe yours,” she teased the crabby granny. “You will not believe how a simple TV series can transform one’s outlook about life and love!”
“Oooh, that sounds very interesting, indeed,” said a woman nibbling on a carrot like a rabbit.
“The plot is so intriguing and” — she dug her fork to finish her oyster.
“When is it showing?” curiously asked one who took her seconds on the grilled pork.
The oyster woman looked at her, watched and calmly replied as she dried her chin: “It’s actually showing right now!”
Everyone suddenly stopped eating and exclaimed, “Then you’re missing it!”
“Nope!” Her calm reply left everyone gaping in surprise.
“How?”
“My helper and I watch it together. When I’m not home, she watches and takes down notes, then she updates me about it when I get home.”
“I didn’t know you knew Korean,” said a lady who was not quite in the loop of the conversation.
“My dear, it’s perfectly dubbed in Tagalog!” Ethel said.
* * *
The wave of foreign romantic TV series continues to invade our country. Their plots, as is the case of the Korean versions, are undeniably more interesting because of how they package valuable lessons on life relationships. I believe, however, that one can acquire more than just an emotional high from these series.
In other countries, foreign films are subtitled instead of dubbed. This affords the viewers the greater advantage of hearing the original language and even picking up a few things from it. Local viewers, in my opinion, are deprived of yet another cultural enrichment since dubbing easily gratifies one by removing the minimal mental effort of reading and understanding a foreign movie.
We are blessed by many in our country who have great potentials in art, dance and other forms of entertainment. Yet many of our countrymen can hardly speak in straight Tagalog or English. What we had once had as a cultural legacy in the forms of Spanish and English have been gradually stripped and thrown away by the corrosive and narrow views of Filipino nationalism via the fast-food delivering dubbed media.
It is this type of media, rather than educate, that reduces many to become like silent puppets that praise and mimic the performance of others. Indeed, the masses have their “cake” of entertainment but remain shackled and cannot rise from their ignorance to a higher stage of cultural growth and enlightenment.