COMM 10 — Memes about Filipinos during the time of COVID-19 Pandemic
Memes as Representation of Cultures
The advancements in technology and its affordability caused the ‘mainstream media’ not to be dominated only by corporate producers (Van Dijk, 2009). They are no longer the only content creators of news and entertainment. The advanced digital media technologies now allow regular people to make a contribution to the general media environment, wherein a lot of audiences can be attracted. In cultures where going viral is of value, contents from anonymous and little-known sources are consumed by many netizens (Jenkins et al., 2013).
Memes that can be found on the internet are a form of user-generated content. They often contain real-world implications where many netizens will be able to relate. The Oxford Dictionary defines a meme as “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations”. Memes often have to do with humor, and there are memes that reference the current culture so as to make it humorous.
The meme I have posted above is essentially contrasting how speech is delivered in various countries. The American way of speaking is quite formal, while the Filipino way is completely casual. I know a lot of people who casually say this, not only to people who are close to them but also to the ones with who they have just interacted along the way. During this pandemic, I hear this a lot from my relatives and friends. The pandemic has caused all of us to stay at home as much as we can so we barely see anyone aside from those who live with us anymore. Thus, I constantly hear this from them in many forms such as “Ano na?”, “Musta na?’”, and “Uy”. It’s like a sort of “kamustahan” as Elena Andreouli has pointed out in her narrative. Even though these are short phrases and others would probably require more than two words to get what the other person is saying, as a Filipino — I already get what they’re trying to say without them actually saying it. From this perspective, I can say that we are exhibiting high context communication such that we heavily rely on things that are not directly spoken to us. People who are not used to communicating the way Filipinos communicate may find it hard to understand the message that the other person is trying to deliver. I think there are a lot of Filipinos who will be able to relate, and thus, shifting to low context communication.
The meme also follows the construction of identity that indicates that if not everybody, Filipinos are generally like this. The meme created an identity through a single meme that will be able to represent how Filipinos interact with each other. It somehow signifies that there is no strict formal way to communicate. For other people, they might see this as an impression about Filipinos’ way of speaking. Also, the meme depicts that when Filipinos speak, they tend to combine Tagalog and everyday English words but still emphasizes the Tagalog accent. This is often referred to as being “conyo”. The word refers to the use of both Tagalog and English words. It is most reflected in the everyday speech of the general Filipino citizens as there are many words in the English dictionary that they may not know the equivalent word in Tagalog. Sometimes, Tagalog words are so deep that even Filipinos themselves don’t know it.
Lastly, this type of communication depends on the environment that the person is in. I’ve seen many Filipinos adjust themselves according to the place, situation, and time. Basing on my observation, they tend to orient themselves whether they should use formal or casual speech when speaking to a group of people or community.
References:
José van Dijck (2009). Users like you? Theorizing agency in user-generated content. Retrieved April 11, 2021 from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0163443708098245
Henry Jenkins, Sam Ford, and Joshua Green (2013). Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture. Retrieved April 11, 2021 from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/viewFile/2340/943
Oxford Dictionary (n.d.). Meme meaning. Retrieved April 11, 2021 from https://www.lexico.com/definition/meme