TV5's Hush Hush starring Bernard Palanca, Bruno Folster, and the rest of the cast whose names I don't know, hehe, is an amazing show, with an amazing concept. But this is how I view show business:
Filipino Showbiz
by R. Arce, Filipino Cultured
Many viewers of Philippine TV sort of watch their TV screens blindly, because they don't realize that there are certain aspects of Filipino showbiz that are real, but there's a lot of it that is
illusion. And this show's concept talks about an aspect of Philippine showbiz that I've noticed for a long time, but to see it in a show is fascinating.
This is showbiz, and trust me, I've seen it with my own two eyes: The leading man hunk that is portrayed as a womanizer in the media and that all the girls fawn for - travels overseas to visit his boyfriend in the States. The girl who is the country's sweetheart and is portrayed by the media as the sweetest girl on earth - is the rudest person to those who work for her, and to the people around her. The actor and actress who are part of one of the hottest love team in the country, smile and swoon and sing to each other on camera, but once the cameras stop rolling, can't stand each other in real life.
But that's something that the "masses" as they say, many times are not aware of. It's a publicity machine meant to capitalize on money. And the added aspect of Philippine clanism, you have to side with one network or the other, and if you move to another network, you're forced by social pressure to cut off your friends on the other network. The fanaticism for one network over another starts out as social pressure, until it becomes reality for the actors as they continue to work for their current network and feel indebted to them for the career opportunities. But that's when it also becomes delicado, because if that person switched sides, we've all seen what happens.
The concept of love teams is another unique thing that one can't find in any other country in the world. In the Philippines, the network forces, I don't want to say the word force, but to be truthful, that's exactly what they're doing, the network forces an actor and actress to be together, create kilig, create a movie, a tv series together, and at the end of the day - provide profits for the network and the actors. They aren't forced negatively, this is the Philippines, people force other people to do things with a smile, and the social pressure to do it is so strong - as an actor of the network, you either flirt and make kilig with your love team, or you go back to living in poverty if you don't do what the network expects you to - to be part of a love team that the public adores.
This is something that people who are critical thinkers will see clearly, but to be realistic, a lot of viewers don't. And in the Philippines, the illusion of showbiz, kilig, and love teams is a means for the masses to endure their own daily struggles, even if at the end of the day, it's an illusion. But the masses don't know it's an illusion, and it provides them joy, and giving joy to people, even if it is manufactured, can only be a good thing, especially in the Philippines where life is hard.
But there are certain aspects of Philippine showbiz that are real, an actress' emotions regarding the intrigues that are thrown at them, the feeling of accomplishment actors feel after finishing a challenging product, the feeling of comraderie with your fellow actors and actresses. But again, there's a lot of it that really is illusion. The other side of it is it's a publicity machine to make money. The masses get kilig on love teams, spend their money on movies, tv, and music to support their favorite love teams, and the networks and the actors generate the income, from advertisers on a high rating TV show, and from merchandise bought by the fans.
The actors know it's a machine (as do the press who are secretly paid by the networks themselves to create a buzz about their talent) but that's why they're actors, they pretend like it's not, that's their job, and that's what they're getting paid to do, to make kilig with their love team, and please the audiences, or else the illusion is cracked. It's either that, or go back to living in poverty, and that's why they do it, because who wants to go back to struggling to make money in life and taking a jeepney, when if you pretend to fall in love with your love team partner, you're driven around everywhere and living in a nice penthouse. Sometimes, the love team becomes real, but regardless of whether it becomes real, the way a love team starts is always a network decision which the actors follow due to social pressure for their careers to survive.
The only thing is, what the public doesn't know sometimes is that the social pressure in Philippine showbiz is so strong, which I think has it's roots in our culture, the social pressure of pakikisama, they often sacrifice a part of themselves, and reality is blurred, and sometimes the actors and actresses lose themselves, and the essence of themselves in the end. How far will they go in the end for success? Is success worth sacrificing who you are, or for the many, many, many Filipino actors with a
special secret, is your public persona, money, and showbiz career worth sacrificing love? For many, it is.
But that's just the way it is, and it will never change, because it's a formula that works. That's why it's called show
business. It's a business at the end of the day. And it's a
show, because a lot of it is not real.
And I know it's not real. But at the end of the day, I just view it as a toy. You play with it, it entertains you, showbiz is fun. The glitz and the glamour is an illusion, but it's an illusion that people welcome into their lives.
Angel Locsin was rumored to have had an abortion, and the father was Luis Manzano. What did Luis have to say about these rumors?
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