Humor of a Darker Kind: Life of a Moreno in the Philippines

The Philippines is home to a diverse range of cultures and customs found around the world. An archipelago of 7,100 islands within South East Asia, the country is a melting pot of different cultures spanning thousands  of years.  

We have had many visitors in the country from the Malays, Indones and Aetas, as taught to us by our Sibika at Kultura subjects. The Spaniards, Americans and Japanese also made their voyage here for one reason or another. All of them played a role in molding our present culture and way of thinking. One pressing cultural phenomenon we experience today though is our obsession with having fair skin.  

Many Filipinos want to be “white”. So much so that any lad who stayed too long in the beach will hear the inevitable squawking of classmates and friends on how dark they had become. It is not a stretch to say that almost all morenos who grew up in the Philippines at one point in time dreamed the Filipino white dream.

I myself am part of the darker skinned Filipinos. With it come many stereotypes. Every time someone learns that I have German blood, I am more often than not given that stare of disbelief. Though they utter no words, the frequency of this event speaks for itself. “But you are dark,” is the simplest thought that could be put on that stare.

The frequency of this event does not bother me though because apart from that one orange thread of hair growing under my chin, I can’t see any other physical characteristic hinting German roots.

Another common joke of the darker kind is when the sun sets and all your friends act in a manner as if their moreno friends have magically disappeared from the face of the earth and can only see you when you smile with your teeth.

One joy that I and my dark-skinned brethren have though comes when the sun rises.  At that point, our ‘mestizos’, ‘tisoy’, or simply self-proclaimed-non-dark friends cower in fear of the mid-day sun afraid of losing the white that they have worked so hard to obtain. While they cower in the shade or nearest umbrella, we roam basking in the sun’s rays without fear of losing anything.

My beautiful skiiiiinnnn!

It’s funny seeing people running from one shade to another, avoiding the sun as if their life depended on it. what’s even funnier is watching them cringe in horror when someone utters the words “umitim ka”.

Come to think of it though, we have many frustrations with the color  white; a white Christmas and white collar jobs to name a few. I also don’t know that many people who can drink pure black coffee devoid of any creamer but that last statement might just be reading into this a little too much. 

A professor once said that we Filipinos are the only people that live in a tropical country, constantly complaining of the heat. Our frustrations with many things lead us to believe that we are tourists in our hometown.

Despite our cultural upbringing written in our history books, stories of our friends, siblings and society in general,  the answer to this obsession is because to this day, many of us still think in Block and White.

 Optic camouflage in the Philippines

  

A Week of Inspiration from Goth to Geek

Inspiration can come from the strangest of places. It is a common belief that in this day and age, nothing is no longer original. All of the greatest lines ever said have already been said and all we can draw from that least bit resembles originality in this world is inspiration.

What can you classify as an inspiration? From a local context, any child who encounters the word inspiration is from a teacher trying to justify your sudden interest and/or improvement in academics because of an attraction to a certain someone in your class. Thus for us Filipino people at least, we learn that we are “inspired” when we are at the presence of our so called “crush”.

The dictionary defines inspiration as a  “Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.” This means that inspiration can come from anywhere and indeed it does.

The source of my inspiration to write on this topic comes from two noteworthy events that happened within this week that have changed our outlook on pop culture from Goth to Geek.

On May 25 1977, a small time film maker came up with a grand idea of creating a story of a near extinct order of priest-like knights that do battle across the galaxy with physics defying weapons and mind bending talents. The novel Idea came to be known sometime later as Star Wars and George Lucas soon became a household name to all present and would-be geeks throughout the sci-fi verse.

 Before Star Wars, people used to mistake me for Kenny Rogers.

Backtrack May 26, 1897 another inspired writer published a book that would affect the Horror, Goth and  Pop culture. Though not the first of its kind, the novel defined our modern image of the vampire.  The writers name, Bram Stoker, and the character he created was named Dracula.

The two works of fiction would bring about other works of inspiration spanning many years. Without Star Wars, we wouldn’t have light sabers, the force and epic plot twists concerning family members. Without Bram Stoker’s Dracula, There would be no Anne Rice and the vampire trio of Armand Lestatte and Louie would be reduced to a less notable title of “Interview with the eccentric”.

Without Dracula we could have a very strong chance of having one Edward Cullen taking the helm of the Vampire image.

Imagine other classics without Bram... just imagine...

I have both a Geek and a Goth side in me cultured by these two works of art. Who wouldn’t want to be the last chance of freedom left in a galaxy far far away. On the other hand, every man at one point in time fancies playing the villain with the charm and class that can entice any female, while making man cower in fear and envy.

There are countless works already made by man the that can serve as inspiration for future classics. One need only open a book, watch a film or simply observe for old ideas that can inspire you to make new ones.