The Philippine Online Chronicles

Hello dear reader, and welcome to uncharted territory.

You've done your part by clicking over to one of the newest sections of the Philippine Online Chronicles, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t begin our relationship (for what else can characterize the interaction of a reader with a writer, especially in the days of Web 2.0?) by trying to explain what you can expect from a section called “Pinoy Pop”? After all, the title isn’t as transparent as “Sportacular” or “Beauty and Fashion”.  The scope of the new section doesn’t allow for neat boundaries, but that's a good thing, and I believe that an exploration of the two words that make up the title can give you an idea of the mission of Pinoy Pop, if not it’s definition.

What We Mean by 'Pinoy':

The first word is the easiest, because it’s a term that has become so familiar, to the point that most of us no longer think about where it comes from. “Pinoy”, as per WikiPilipinas, is a demonym (a term for name for a resident of a place, derived from the name of that place) used by Filipinos for their compatriots in the Philippines and around the world. Filipinos usually refer to themselves informally as Pinoy--or sometimes by the feminine "Pinay"--which is formed by taking the last four letters of the word 'Pilipino' and adding the diminutive suffix -y. As best as I have been able to determine, the term “Pinoy” originated as a term of self-identification coined by Filipinos living in the United States, to distinguish themselves from their countrymen who still lived in the Philippines, as well as from other immigrant groups in America. The earliest recorded use of the term, as per Wikipedia, was in several articles written by Dr. J. Juliano in January of 1924, in which he dispensed advice about how Pinoys were to respond if they were mistaken for a member of other ethnicities/nationalities, such as Japanese or Chinese. Of course, the fact that the term “Pinoy” was already used in this article means that, by this point, it had already achieved a certain amount of unpublished use amongst Dr. Juliano’s target audience.

Now, of course, the term “Pinoy”, as a noun, refers not only to those of Filipino descent who live abroad, but to anyone of Filipino descent, wherever they may live. It’s also put into service as an adjective to describe something that has a distinctly Filipino character or flavor, and as such it has become practically the requisite prefix for local reality shows (just check the extensive enumeration on the Wikipilipinas).

“Pinoy” is an informal term, a comfortable term, one which is now much more likely to be used in conversations amongst other Pinoys as opposed to conversations with those who might not understand the term. That in itself says something about us I think: as a people, we’re not really big on formality, and on that basic level “Pinoy” has a more intrinsically Filipino-character than the word “Filipino” itself. Upon discovering the history of the term, I can see why it would resonate: it’s the one name for ourselves that comes, not from the minds and lips of foreigners (as with the very name of our country), but from the minds and lips of our own.

What we mean by 'Pop':

One would be hard pressed to find a term that was as ubiquitous, yet as ambiguous, as the term “pop”. Putting aside for a moment its use as a synonym for cola, or explosive deliciousness, the term “pop” is frequently seen as an abbreviation of “popular”, a term which, as anyone who has been through High School or an audience-participation reality show will tell you, should mean it is a positive thing. Yet in the past, when linked to another positive word, “popular” was used to negative effect, a dumbing-down or devolution. You can see this in the history of the term “popular culture”, which was originally used to refer to “the education and culturedness of the lower classes”, and which was opposed to “high culture” that set of works which is held in the highest esteem by a consensus of “gatekeepers” and "taste makers" such as academics and critics.

Eventually the view of “pop” seemed to soften somewhat, becoming more a description of mass appeal than of the quality of the content of a particular work or medium. In the first recorded use of the term “pop song”, “pop” was meant to indicate that the music was popular, that it appealed to many people. Yet even then, the negative connotations of the term remained, and “pop music” has come to carry the cultural stigma (at least amongst the culture gatekeepers) of being commercial music created for the purpose of monetary reward as opposed to any particular artistic mission or ambition. Later, the "Pop Art" movement reclaimed the term "pop" as something of a reaction to the rather elitist exclusion of popular or mass produced work from the domain of "art", recontextualizing images from popular culture in a way that showcases their beauty and merit above and beyond whatever commercial motivation may have served as the impetus or foundation for their creation.   After all, a work of art created for money or to sell a product, is still a work of art.

What we mean by 'Pinoy Pop':

In the same way, that "Pinoy" comes from Filipinos and is meant for Filipinos, Pinoy Pop will be written by Filipinos, to give the perspective of Filipinos (individual Filipinos mind you--no one is claiming to speak for the nation as a whole here, or even the “common tao”;  we’ll leave that hubris to the politicians) on creative works, whether made by Filipinos or by creators from outside the country.

As for "Pop", even in its ambiguity, the term is a pretty fair description of what we'll be covering in the new section. Pinoy Pop will be tackling popular works that aren't specifically covered by the other sections of the Philippine Online Chronicles (either because they never have been, because they're approached differently there, or because they've now been transferred to us), works and media that might be ignored by most mainstream critics and organs, but which we believe deserve study and critical attention. Given the kind of creative work that most often gets the snub, we hope that Pinoy Pop can also be a place for fans to simply geek out. While the boundaries are intentionally porous, for now we'll be covering speculative/genre works (science fiction, fantasy and horror) in books, movies, and television, as well as more general coverage of komiks (and western comics, as well as manga and webcomics), gaming (on consoles, PCs, and tabletop gaming as well), podcasts, and anime--you know, the fun stuff that many up-standing "grown-ups" refuse to take seriously, or say can never be art. We at Pinoy Pop know better than to denigrate media and creative works that thousands, millions, of decent, intelligent human beings enjoy on a daily basis, and we want to share our love for these pieces of "Pop" with everyone who will listen.

So thanks for joining us, friend. Pull up a chair (or sit on the floor, it's clean…ish) and ignore the old men and women railing at us to get off their lawn.

It's our lawn now.