What is Popular Culture?

Popular culture is the set of practices, beliefs, and objects that embody the most broadly shared
meanings of a social system. It includes media objects, entertainment and leisure, fashion and trends,
and linguistic conventions, among other things. Popular culture is usually associated with either mass
culture or folk culture, and differentiated from high culture and various institutional cultures (political
culture, educational culture, legal culture, etc.).

Different Definitions of Popular Culture

In his wildly successful textbook "Cultural Theory and Popular Culture" (now in its 8th edition), British
media specialist John Storey offers six different definitions of popular culture.

 Popular culture is simply culture that is widely favored or well-liked by many people: it has no
negative connotations.
 Popular culture is whatever is left after you've identified what "high culture" is: in this definition,
pop culture is considered inferior, and it functions as a marker of status and class.
 Pop culture can be defined as commercial objects that are produced for mass consumption by
non-discriminating consumers. In this definition, popular culture is a tool used by the elites to
suppress or take advantage of the masses.
 Popular culture is folk culture, something that arises from the people rather than imposed upon
them: pop culture is authentic (created by the people) as opposed to commercial (thrust upon
them by commercial enterprises).
 Pop culture is negotiated: partly imposed on by the dominant classes, and partly resisted or
changed by the subordinate classes. Dominants can create culture but the subordinates decide
what they keep or discard.
 The last definition of pop culture discussed by Storey is that in the postmodern world, in today's
world, the distinction between "authentic" versus "commercial" is blurred. In pop culture today,
users are free to embrace some manufactured content, alter it for their own use, or reject it
entirely and create their own.

History and Evolution of Philippine Popular Culture

"Building a culture has to start with a foundation, and that foundation must necessarily be the culture of
the Filipino people if this could be separated with the encrustations grown on it by colonial rule."

Popular culture, according to National Artist for literature Bienvenido Lumbera in his book Revaluation:
Essays on Philippine Literature, Theatre and Popular Culture (1984), is highly different from the folk
culture and nationalist culture of the Filipinos.

Nationalist culture is the culture created through colonial resistance with the collective of a people on a
given place and time. These two are different from popular culture which can be traced even in the
period of Hispanization of the Philippines.

According to Lumbera, popular culture in the Philippines was created and used by the Spaniards to the
native Filipinos or Indios via plays and literature to get the heart of the natives and win it. The colonial
origins of popular culture found in the Philippines can be traced by looking at salient developments in
Philippine literature. The first permanent Spanish settlement began replacing the native culture with a
Christian and European tradition. The children of the native elite under the tutelage of missionaries
became a core group of intelligentsia called 'ladinos', as they became instrumental "in bringing into the
vernacular, literary forms that were to be vehicles for the "pacification" of the natives". Forms of popular
theatre and literature such as "the pasyon, sinakulo, and korido ensured the acceptance and spread of
Christianity, and the komedya and awit did the same for the monarchy." Popular culture as introduced by
the Spanish was "popular" to the extent that it was a "watering-down of Spanish-European culture for
the purpose of winning the general populace over to the 'ideology' of the colonial regime." Popular
culture at the time was created by colonial authorities, with the aid of the local intelligentsia, to promote
the interests of the Church and the State.

In the 19th century, through the Propaganda movement, the native intelligentsia used the same forms of
popular culture to "undermine the power of the abusive friars and rally the populace to put an end to
colonial rule" one example is the work of Marcelo H. del Pilar when he soon used prayers such as the
'Aba, Ginoong Maria' and 'Ama Namin' in a sort of parody to strike against the abusive Spanish Friars.

The advent of American colonialism brought, the properly so-called, popular culture to the Philippines.
The liberal policy regarding the printing press, soon through radio, television and film, increased the
circulation of of popular culture forms. Not only through these forms but also in new media then, such
as films. Hollywood films had a near-monopoly in the Philippine market especially in the absence of
European movies due to World War I.

What Makes the Filipinos Different From the Rest of the World

Filipino Culture

The Filipino culture has varied influences from previous colonizations, deriving mainly from the culture
of Spain and America. You can easily notice it from the architecture to the cultural beliefs in the
Philippines. Despite all of these foreign influences, the old Asian Filipino culture has been retained and
are clearly seen in their way of life, cultural beliefs in the Philippines, Filipino customs and traditions.
Wherever you go, the Filipino culture and values are very evident and have largely been appreciated and
even applauded in many parts of the world.

Filipino Values

The Filipino culture and values are just among the good things that are appreciated by many people from
across the world. In the Philippines, family is valued so much. Children live with their parents until they
are married. The Filipino family culture is something that many people applaud because the locals value
family time so much.

Some other noteworthy and great Filipino values are as follow:

1. Bayanihan Filipino culture

2. Before, the Filipino men used to serenade (harana) a woman he was courting.

3. Filipinos call their older siblings “ate” for older sisters and “kuya” for older brothers to show respect.

4. Hospitable

5. So much respect for the elderlies

6. Pagmamano or kissing the elder’s head on the forehead

7. Religious
8. Palabra de Honor

9. Pamamanhikan

10. Pakikisama

Music, Arts and Literature

Music, arts, and literature play a big role in the Philippine culture and arts because Filipinos are very
creative. When it comes to music, they use materials, usually raw, to create sound. This is just one of the
many examples of indigenous practices in the Philippines.

Philippine Folk Arts

Here are some Filipino culture examples from Luzon folk dance to Filipino cultural practices.

1. Architecture (Bahay Kubo (Nipa Hut), Bale (Ifugao House), Ivatan House, Torogan (Marano House),
Badjao’s Stilt Houses and Houseboats, Vinta (A traditional colorful boat in Mindanao)

2. Weaving and Clothing (Piña Fabric, T’Nalak Woven Cloth, Tapis, Yakan, Barong Tagalog, Baro at Saya)

3. Philippine and Luzon folk dance (Carinosa, Tinikling, Itik-Itik, Sayaw sa Bangko, Pandanggo sa Ilaw,
Maglalatik)

Clothing

Before, the cultural practices in the Philippines when it comes to clothing is wearing baro’t saya for
women and barong tagalog for men. Baro’t saya is composed of a blouse and a long skirt with a
“panuelo”. Barong Tagalog was an almost see-through polo but throughout the centuries, the Barong
Tagalog has evolved. Buttons and collars were added, as well as intricate designs on its pina fabric and
laces. Underneath the transparent Barong Tagalog is the Camisa de Chino, a type of shirt, usually in
white that is said to have originated from the Chinese.

Culture and Tradition of Philippines: Celebrations

Philippine Festivals are also among the most remarkable cultural practices in the Philippines where
Filipinos give all-out to celebrate the province or town’s fiesta.

Media and Popular Culture is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that focuses on the
various aspects of popular culture and how it is intertwined with media. Popular culture is a movement
that was started in order to give voice to the common masses through different forms of media, such as
television shows, technology, magazines, folklore, sports, movies, contemporary books, paintings, sports,
fashion, pop music, and so on.

 aims to study this distance between the hegemony of the elite class and the struggle of the
lower class, and how media has been playing an effective role to bridge this gap. Interdisciplinary
in nature, the journal pays attention to the interconnection of popular culture with ethnicity,
gender, identity, and social class.
Media Affects Culture

The media affects people in varied ways, some are positive and others are negative.

Positive Aspects:

 The media shows us constructive information. It can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels
in a particular subject, or encourage them.
 It is a getaway to places unknown, foreign and magical with knowledge of what goes on around
us without being physically present in that place.
 Video games today are increasingly active-oriented, making students get off their behind and
engage in games that require physical movement.
 Media also help us engage with other people around the world, and be more open and
understanding towards other cultures.

Negative Aspects:

 Students are influenced easily by what they see on television or the internet, mimicking such
acts on their elders, or other students.
 Obesity is on the rise for students who plant themselves in front of the television.
 The media can influence one to do things that aren’t moral, like getting into substance abuse.

Culture Affects Media

 Culture is the set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and ideals that are
characteristics of a particular society or population.
 Media cannot escape the cultural influence. Culture provides media with sources for content.
 All contents are derived from culture including entertainment, new and advertisement.