A Short Discussion About Filipino Memes by YanJi13

INTRODUCTION

jeanebernardbermudez — 2024-11-04 15:27:51 UTC

Hi there, I'm Jeane Bernard Bermudez, and I'm a Computer Science student. I'm interested in many different things related to Philippine pop culture. One of these are local memes, but I'm also interested in classic literature that shaped our society like old folklore, Filipino comedy movies, food trends, and OPM such as IV of Spades. I'm also interested in art such as pixel art. Lately, I've been combining my skills in arts and technology in game development.

LOCAL MEMES

jeanebernardbermudez — 2024-11-04 15:35:24 UTC

What I want to talk about today are local memes. These are my favorite parts in Philippine pop culture, because they are accessible, easily digestible, and fun. These help me by making me a bit happy especially during bad times or when I'm stressed. They are also very relatable for me because these are usually presented with local language (Tagalog or Bisaya) and that makes it funnier to me. Overall, memes are a simple way for me to have a bit of fun and appreciate modern Filipino culture.

DISCUSSION

jeanebernardbermudez — 2024-11-04 15:43:26 UTC

As stated earlier, memes are accessible and easy to digest. With that in mind, people from different demographics are able to access memes especially nowadays with the power of the internet. With the accessibility of memes, it can have effects on many different people with different views and opinions. Memes can help in changing and shaping our modern society, especially since memes in general as a form of media, is flexible. A single "meme template" can have multiple forms which can hold different meanings. With memes' flexibility, it can be used in different situations either for entertainment, politically, and many more.

DISCUSSION II

jeanebernardbermudez — 2024-11-04 15:51:34 UTC

Now that we know that memes are accessible and flexible, we discuss about why do people engage with them and how it creates change. Now, let's look at this from the lens of the Uses and Gratifications Theory. As stated earlier, memes can be used for many different purposes, either as entertainment, political use, and many more. In entertainment, memes are used to simply make fun of things or tell funny jokes usually with pictures. In politics, memes are used to slander a corrupt politician, spread awareness about social issues, or to spread some agenda/message. People engage with memes because they are funny and with how accessible memes are, the messages they convey reach many different people thus affecting our society as a whole.