People change the way environment demonstrates for possible adaption of new behavior in a

community. This is due to what is called as cyber-culture, being a product of technological Innovations in
the process of coming up with new experiences in the form of delivery of information and of sustaining
communication. This unit will guide you in understanding the various categories of Philippine pop
culture in different decades starting from the 1950s to the present. Be able to decipher between and
among the different categories in order for you to understand the adaptation of new behavior of the
Filipinos from each decade onward

Topic 1: Entertainment and Popular Culture

Entertainment is one of the most common categories of popular culture. This includes Movies (Cinema),
Television, Music, and Video Games

1950

Philippinas

20004

Cinema. The formative years of Philippine cinema, which commenced in the 19308, were a time of film
discovery as a new way of expressing artworks. Scripts and characterizations in films emanated from
popular theater shows and Philippine literature

The advent of the cinema of the Philippines can be traced back to the early days of filmmaking in 1897
when a Spanish theater owner screened imported moving pictures. In the 19408, Philippine cinema
brought the consciousness of reality in its film industry. Nationalistic time became popular, and movie
themes consisting primarily of war and heroes and proved to be successful with Philippine audiences.
The 1950s saw the first golden age of Philippine cinema, with the emergence of more artistic and
mature films, and significant improvement in cinematic techniques among filmmakers. The studio
system produced frenetic activity in the Philippine film industry as many films were made annually and
several local talents started to gain recognition abroad. Award-winning filmmakers and actors were first
introduced during this period. As the decade drew to a close, the studio system monopoly came under
siege as a result of labor-management conflicts. By the 1960s, the artistry established in the previous
years was in decline. This era can be characterized by rampant commercialism in films. The 1970s and
1980s were considered turbulent years for the Philippine film industry, bringing both positive and
negative changes. The films in this period dealt with more serious topics following the Martial law era, in
addition, action, western, drama, adult and comedy films developed further in picture quality, sound
and writing. The 1980s brought the arrival of alternative or Independent cinema in the Philippines. The
1990s saw the emerging popularity of drama, teen- oriented romantic comedy, adult, comedy and
action films. The Philippines, being one of Asia's earliest film industry producers, remains undisputed in
terms of the highest level of theater admission in Asia. Over the years, however, the Philippine film
industry has registered a steady decline in movie viewership from 131 million in 1996 to 63 million in
2004. From a high production rate of 350 films a year in the 1950s, and 200 films a year during the
1980s, the Philippine film industry production rate declined in 2006 to 2007. The 21st century saw the
rebirth of independent filmmaking through the use of digital technology and a number of films have
once again earned nationwide recognition and prestige. With the high rates of film production in the
past, several movie artists have appeared in over 100+ roles in Philippine Cinema and enjoyed great
recognition from fans and moviegoers.

Television, as a form of entertainment, is always in the heart of every Filipino. Since its inception as an
integral part of Filipino life, television has both reflected and nurtured cultural mores and values. TV
shows in recent years, discussed even the most personal and taboo issues. Television has likewise held
up a mirror to society. But the relationship between social attitudes and television is reciprocal;
broadcasters have often demonstrated their power to influence viewers, either consciously through
slanted political commentary, or subtly, by portraying controversial relationships (such as single
parenthood, same-sex marriages, or interracial couplings) as socially acceptable. The symbiotic nature of
television and culture is exemplified in every broadcast, from family sitcoms to serious news reports.
According to the Yahoo-Nielsen Survey of 2013, the top three sources of media consumption in the
Philippines come from the television, the radio, and the continually rising internet usage. With these
media vehicles, one can actually deduce that watching favorite shows on television, listening to radio
programs, or even surfing the world-wide web can have political, social, and economic implications.

From 1975 to 1978, the Sinag Awards were given by the Philippine Academy for Television Arts and
Sciences (PATAS). On the other hand, the Star Awards for Television is the oldest existing television
awards in the country handed out annually by the Philippine Movie Press Club and are voted by the
press. The Philippines has no public broadcasting television network. In 1986, in the aftermath of the
historic People Power Revolution which ended the 20- long year dictatorship of Marcos that forever
altered television history, ABS-CBN was returned after BBC, RPN, and IBC were sequestered by the
Philippine Commission on Good Government (PCGG), in turn awarded BBC the returning network
through an executive order while RPN and IBC were in turn handed over to the Government
Communications Group. ABS- CBN would begin both satellite and international broadcasts (the latter a
first for a Philippine TV station) in 1989. During the latter part of the decade, as the once
insurmountable RPN and IBC suffered from gross mismanagement and financial crisis which took a toll
on their ratings, the once struggling ABS-CBN surged ahead to be the undisputed number 1 from 1988
onward. GMA, which retained its owners, faced an uphill battle for ratings supremacy as it ended the
80s as the No. 2 network after a brief stint in the lead, though it did maintain its position as a leading
player in the industry. Yet even as it encountered financial troubles, RPN in 1990 broke ahead as the first
Philippine station ever to have 24-hour broadcasts. By then, ABS-CBN enjoyed a significant lead over not
just GMA, but also the now-faltering Channels 9 and 13

MBS Channel 4 later became PTV 4 (People's Television) on February 24, 1986, during the 3rd day of the
EDSA Revolution, given the fact that soldiers loyal to President Corazon Aquino and civilian supporters
took over the channel's broadcast facilities, and in 2001, it was relaunched as the National Broadcasting
Network (NBN), before renaming back to the People's Television Network in 2011, albeit in its current
Visayas Avenue studios (which was opened in 1992). ABC returned to broadcast in 1992. In 2008, ABC
became TV5. IBC later became a 100% government owned station in the 1990s by virtue of a
compromise agreement between PCGG and Roberto Benedicto, management and marketing were
returned to the IBC Board of Directors. In 1998, ZOE TV was finally launched on channel 11. The channel
was blocktimed by GMA Network in 2005, and was relaunched as QTV in November. The channel was
again relaunched in February 2011, this time as GMA News TV. Philippine shows began to be exported
to other Asian and non-Asian countries. After the international success of Philippine television (with
many TV dramas being broadcast to many countries), Eat Bulaga! was the first Philippine variety show to
be franchised in another country. Its first franchise is Eat Bulaga! Indonesia. Cable television was, in
keeping with the 1987 Constitution and the Aquino government policies, removed as a state
responsibility in 1988. In this new atmosphere of privatized cable came what is today the cable firm Sky
Cable, created in 1990. 11 years later, Dream Satellite TV began operations as the country's first Direct-
broadcast satellite television service, lasting up until 2017.

Music, just like cinema and television, is also a part of the Filipino individuality. Philippine music is rich
beyond compare. Most Filipinos, however, do not know this wealth, victims as they are of a broadcast
media that propagate Western, particularly American entertainment music, day in and day out. If ever
music written by Filipinos is given a chance to be heard, it is ninety percent of the cheap pop variety
copled or adapted from foreign hits

Spanish and later American colonial regimes created a Philippine society whose Western social
institutions were modeled after their respective societal structures. While both Spanish and American
regimes gave their shares of social and cultural influences, it was the American regime that established
institutions that make up some of the present structure of modern Philippine society. The creation of
such institutions and the absorption of Philippines Into the global political economy likewise created a
need for forms of leisure that was fit for such a society. This social condition gave rise to the
development of Phillippine popular music into the forms that are known today.

Angio-American popular music wae widely heard in dance halls and cabarets, including vaudeville shows
at the early part of the twentieth century. The well-known musical genres at the time like the cakewalk,
the foxtrot and the ragtime-forerunners of what was to develop as

Jazz-were played by Filipino dance bands in cabarets. Vaudeville shows (bodabil) consists of a variety of
acts that included slapstick comedy routines and tap dance numbers aside from popular music. Filipino
folk songs were arranged into dance mythms to suit the emerging American taste. With the Introduction
of radio, sheet music, live entertainment and movie themes, popular music found its place in the
mainstream of Philippine society During the Japanese Invasion in the Second World War, American
forms of entertainment were banned along with the suppression of American values. The Japanese
branded American culture as decadent while concealing its own agenda of economic and cultural
expansionism. With this, a pro-Filipino virtue was promoted side by side with a pro- Japanese virtue and
songs were one Important medium to disseminate this value.

In the late 1940's as the world was rebuliding itself after the turmoll of the 2nd World War, American
forms of entertainment re-surfaced in the Phillippines. American military presence, which demanded
the forms of rest and recreation, exposed the Filipinos to swing and continued the proliferation of
popular stage shows like the bodabil. Later, in the 1950s, a popularized version of the samba was
introduced. This was followed by the emergence of the Instrumental groups known as the cumbachero
(a local version of a Latin-American band), which became well-known in fiestas and other social
gatherings.

in the 1950's to the 1960's, newer genres as rock and roll and country music appealed to a younger
generation of Fispino popular artists. Filipino counterparts of famous Western artists as Elvis Presley,
Jerry Vale, Buddy Holly, Chuck Beny, and the Beatles were heard over the radio and seen in movies and
on television

While preference for foreign artists prevailed, local artists continued to strive for a distinct sound that
could be referred to as -Filipino Conscious efforts to develop that Filipino sound (Pinoy Sound) came
however in the 1970's with the creation of Filipino rock music, dubbed as Pinoy Rock, Filipino Jazz or
Pinoy Jazz and Filipino pop ballad or the Manila Sound. Those initial efforts came to a significant
development in the late 70's to the 80's with the flourishing of various Filipino pop styles.

In the late 70's, the Metro Manila Popular Music Festival (or Metro Pop), a song writing competition for
amateurs and professionals, became the buffer for the creation of new pop songs and the introduction
of emerging artists and performers. Other local competitions inspired even more artists and composers
to create more music. These include Likha Awit Pambata (a children's song competition), the Himig
Awards, and the Cecil Awards. It was at about this period when the Organisasyon ng mga Pilipinong
Mang-aawit (OPM), was created to address the needs of Filipino popular artists. OPM also stood for
Original Pilipino Music a handle for music composed and/or performed by Filipinos, even with its
eventual use of English lyrics.

The effort to probe deeper into the search for a Filipino identity in popular music was attempted in the
late 1980's and the early 90's by a group of composers who banded together to form KATHA
(write/create). This effort gave rise to the move to create Brown Music, a kind of counterpart to the
African-American-Black Music. The outputs of multi-awarded composer Ryan Cayabyab to fuse
indigenous musical elements with foreign pop idioms took off to enable non-mainstream artists like Joey
Ayala to surface in the commercial arena. As the decade of the 90's commenced, more and more
alternative artists entered into the mainstream.

Video games have become popular to every Filipino since the advent of the internet. As technology
evolves, gadgets and concepts of gaming have also changed to provide an improved and more
immersive experience. Back in the day, computer games, joysticks, arcades, and gaming consoles like
the Atari, PlayStation 1, and the Game Boy were the craze. Today, gaming has reached a whole new
level of awesome. You can play games on laptops, in consoles such as the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4,
and even on your smartphone and tablet. The modern gaming experience has become more amazing
and accessible. If the gamers of the 80s and 90s could time travel to the present, one could just marvel
at the sheer variety of games that today's generation can enjoy.

While Southeast Asian developers only have a few more days to enter the 1 ST IMGA SEA, this week, we
look into the Philippines gaming industry. Like other Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines also
show good performance and a big potential in this industry. According to Newzoo's Casual Games Sector
Report 2015, Philippines ranks 25th for its mobile revenue. And it is supposed to be 20th in 2019.

Last year, the Philippines game revenues hit 258.2 million dollars. The mobile gaming industry takes a
large share of those revenues with 53.7%. The mobile players represent 70.8% of the online population,
with 34.2 million people. At the same time, 42.9% of mobile gamers in Philippines are willing to pay for
the games. The favorite genres of big spenders on mobile are race games, strategy games, and action or
adventure games.
Gabby Dizon is the CEO and co-founder of Altitude Games, -leading mobile games studio founded by
veterans of the Southeast Asian game industry||. He has shared with us his vision about the gaming
industry in the Philippines!