Thursday, September 07, 2006

Pinoy Big Brother versus American Big Brother

When I lived in the PI for six months last year, I was happy to see that there was the Filipino version of the Big Brother. I love watching Big Brother because it is a strategic game of emotions and intelligence. So yeah, I was excited for Filipino Big Brother. I couldn't wait.

Then the series premiere came. I centered myself in front of the TV. Then I saw a young person introduced. The first member. Then another young one. Then another young one. And hey, these young ones, they're all pretty goodlooking too. I kept waiting and waiting for a more real household. Mixed with young and old, the intelligent and the dumb, the pretty and the ugly. I got none of it. They were all young, vivacious cast members.

I thought I'd give it a shot anyway; so I loyally followed them and their stories. To make a long story short, it became a "nakakabobo" and "kakadiri" show for me. All I saw was crying and whining, and whining and crying. After they did that, they cooked. Then they cried and whined more. I missed all the aspects of the strategic playing. The alliances. The planning. The strategizing disappeared altogether.

It was a sad house, full of misery and tears. I think every single person in there cried at least once.

I stopped watching. Nakakabobo. Kakadiri. (I learned these two words at Greenbelt).

Two things to be learned from here. One, this is symbolic of how the Filipinos will probably never rise because of the crying and whining. Let's call this the crywhine factor. We just cry and whine all day long without really doing something about our lot. I call it apathy as well. We don't really care. It's so much easy to just whine about things. But when it comes to actually doing something about it, then we all hide.

Second, this is symbolic of how Filipinos lack the entrepreneural or strategic spirit. Granted you have mom and pop stores, sari sari stores, and push karts everywhere, but the Filipinos will not rise because of this non-competitive phenomenon. Perhaps students were never really taught to be competitive; to strive; to want more; to want something better. Perhaps they were taught to just settle for what's in front of them.

The Pinoy Big Brother winner would be presented with cash and a decent house; yet, noone played strategies. Come what may was their strategy. That is currently the attitude of most Pinoys. Come what may. The mayor just stole your money. Come what may. Your capitan is gambling your money away. Come what may. Your president just stole the votes. Come what may. Your store next door is ripping you off. Come what may.

Sometimes, I just wanna say come what may too. But I don't want to be a typical Pinoy. I want to strive for something different.

Then there is the point of the kakadiri and nakakabobo Filipino shows altogether. But that is a whole new different post.


6 comments:

Wil said...

Well, I don't know if you can say all pinoys are apathetic towards politics. without people power, the philippines would still be under military rule. true, many pinoys whine, but many also try to make a difference. just check out www.pcij.org. as for pinoys without entrepreneurial spirit, true, not too many pinoys seem to have this as evidenced by the fact that the richest people in the philippines are ethnic chinese (henry sy, gokongwei, etc). but that's b/c many pinoys are too busy focusing on becoming employees (e.g. nurses, engineers,etc.) instead of employers. just my 2 cents.

jef said...

Indeed, Pinoys are cry babies. What we need is a real kick in the butt to keep this country moving. True, many people are suffering but sometimes, when pity party become a little more like the favorite past time activity, then, I guess we are slacking BIG time. Thanks for the comments by the way. I will link you ha! I find this blog too interesting.

schumey said...

You'll be surprised how creative and resilient Filipinos are. Luck of funds and high interest rates is what prevents small businesses from flourishing. Taxes too are high and raw materials are expensive. Lack of government support in terms of marketing for export businesses also hinders export growth. The government prioritizes exporting Filipino workers instead. This policy will definitely have social repercussions in the future.

Anonymous said...

yeah, that pinoy big brother is so played out not by the contestant but by the tv station manager.
After watching the first one, i did not even bother watching the next ones. Here they are saying that it's reality tcv.. but all they ever show and have the contestant do are things they want the contestant to do.. if they try to stray away from the norms then most likely they will try to control or alleviate the situation.. SO scripted for something that should be unscripted. Where is the fun in that. It was a mistake ever watching that show. i should have stuck to survivor where it is raw and strategic or the amazing race. Now that is DRAMA!!!

AIEPRO said...

I think overall, Filipino TV programming is nakakabobo and kakadiri. It makes me dumber just watching it.

BigBad said...

All-Star Pinoy Big Brother Fantasy Game, soon.

www.pbbfantasygame.blogspot.com
www.pbbfg2.blogspot.com
www.pbbfg3.blogspot.com