I Just Thought of This Like Literally Five Minutes Ago…

Okay, so here’s what happened. Our television was on because my parents were waiting for the five o’ clock news and before that was this local afternoon soap opera. I was just opening WordPress with no substantial plan on what I’m gonna do in my blog (it’s a force of habit when I use the computer: step one: open WordPress; step two: think of what you should do on WordPress). And then my father commented about how this certain actor doesn’t know how to act.

And then I commented how that’s no surprise to me because 60%* of the lead actors in our country were chosen because of their good looks.

I don’t watch local television series a lot. The great local television series that I’ve seen were series I’ve seen as a kid. And they had amazing plots and world-building. Over time, I feel like the quality of the stories that are the foundation of “hit” Filipino dramas and sitcoms are being reduced to having good-looking people and…that’s it.

What I’m trying to do here is not condemn good-looking people. Heck, I admire some of those gorg beasties. But I feel like here in my country, actors and actresses are simply good-looking people who can charm their way into anything. And while that in itself is a great skill, I don’t think it will be enough to create a critically and artistically great work.

Simply put, here’s my two cents: there are still people who judge (and admire) books by their cover. And that’s evident with the entertainment industry here in the Philippines. You see people here get platinum album when they aren’t even good singers, just really good-looking dudes. It’s preposterous, to be honest, because there are far more talented musicians who deserve that kind of break.

But that’s how the entertainment industry works here, I guess. (I don’t know about the rest of the world but then…there’s the Kardashians.)

And it’s just a sad thing to see. Which is why I don’t watch local TV unless it’s a documentary. So yeah, it’s an opinion that I have for quite a long time now but haven’t really mentioned in my blog and I thought it’s a good random topic.

Good morning/noon/afternoon/night, everyone! 🙂

*completely exaggerated statement. Not real statistics, people.

 

Comments

Dziey says:

I don’t think it’s ONLY in Philippines. There are honestly loads and loads of actors and actresses in Hollywood as well and honestly there are soo many who are good at acting and singing and they just don’t get the chance to.

Kate says:

Exactly! Like with Brie Larson in Room, I was so happy that she got that big break because she’s an awesome actress.

Dziey says:

I have yet to watch that movie but I’ll agree!

Yeah, exactly. It’s the same here in India too. Lately, I have been bored by those same stereotypical stories in Bollywood movies as well as TV serials. And the actors’ problems. I completely agree with you on that. 🙂

Kate says:

Actually…I think I’ve watched a couple of Indian movies that I find better than the local ones here. 😀 Probably because they were so new to me. 🙂
I guess, when you grow up watching the same local films, the appeal gets smaller over time. Exactly what happened to me.

Yeah it’s absolutely true.
But I guess the Indian movies that you have watched are quite older and those older ones were way way better than what we are seeing these days. But I hope that some new releases will change this scenario, coz the upcoming movies have quite a good plot.

So, I think they may satiate my thirst for some good movies. 🙂

Kate says:

Yeah, I think they were old. I’m also a little optimistic with our indie films as they have good plot and get to pressing matters that doesn’t have a clear voice in mainstream films.
Hopefully, both of our thirsts for good movies will be satiated. 🙂

madilynquinn01 says:

I’m pretty sure this happens everywhere. Really, though, I tend to watch a lot of B-rate stuff which do have some weird looking people in them – and some of those folks can’t act either. So not sure that good looks equates to bad acting. But I feel what you’re saying. It IS disappointing when people get chosen over more superior peers strictly because they look better on camera.

I’ll admit I do judge books by their covers, though. It’s a hard habit to break, unfortunately.

Kate says:

Yes, I get what you’re saying too. 🙂 I’ve seen not so good looking people who doesn’t act well, too.

[…] briefly mentioned several posts ago about how recent local television shows have not appealed to me. And I said there that the Filipino […]

Leave a Reply to Kate Cancel reply


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.