Comments on: Who’s heard of Henry Enfield?

By: Keyser Soze

Keyser Soze — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:04:04 +0000

The way I see it, if you belong to the same group of people you are making fun of, then the greater the chance of you of getting away with it. Does it work all the time? Of course not, just ask Malu Fernandez. However, Rex Navarette or Eat Bulaga seem to be doing just fine. If you have two separate scenarios: a Filipino making fun of a Filipino and a Brit making fun of a Filipino, without question, the latter will get more scrutiny. And where do you get that kind of a scenario? Overseas.

As for Filipino shows making fun of Indians and Chinese, I think it would benefit them to organize themselves and protest accordingly just like we do. That way these shows would know what is tolerable or not for these nationalities. If they don’t bother to complain, does that mean we Filipinos are too sensitive? I don’t think so. As they say, to each his own. Besides, as stereotypes go, a motorcycle riding Indian merchant is pretty tame compared to a Filipina sex slave.

By: Connie Veneracion

Connie Veneracion — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:55:14 +0000

“part of me thinks that they’re really in the business of encouraging people to go abroad”

Well, that puts them in direct partnership with the government. The Arroyo administration does not deny that labor export is its most important economic strategy.

By: unsentpostcards

unsentpostcards — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:49:24 +0000

malaki pakinabang nila sa ofws. they generate money directly from viewer subscriptions versus the local viewers — direcho sa bulsa, so-to-speak. and remittances ofws send are generally spent on the way-beyond-necessity products they advertise. (they make money off of product placements.) kaya, kabig na sila ibang bansa, kabig pa sila sa pilipinas. hello, perpetual cash flow generators.

part of me thinks that they’re really in the business of encouraging people to go abroad (hello future welders of canada) via a) their crappy shows (which are essentially designed to destroy our national EQ with those tearjerker, over-recycled storylines) and b) sensationalized news casting (which are essentially designed to viewers *more* dissatisfied with the government).

perhaps their underlying mission is: to have at least one ofw per family?

but with this global economic crisis, maybe we should be worrying of the potential exodus of ofws back to the philippines if its true that the worst is yet to come.

/rant.

By: Roy

Roy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:54:50 +0000

I’m a Brit living in the Philippines. Harry Enfield is one of the most established and best loved comedians in the UK. His style is to take stereotypes and exaggerate them for comedy.

Having watched the clip I can confirm that the butt of the joke is not the Filipina maid. Rather it is the pompous English employer, a common target for Enfield who is somewhat anti-establishment,

However, I totally agree with the sentiments that the sketch does degrade Filipinos, especially female ofws. It propagates a stereotype that Filipinas are available for sexual exploitation. Added to that, the sketch wan’t especially funny. So I’ve added my name to the petition complaining about it.

I also agree that the hysterical reaction by some members of the Philippiens government who are looking for some popularity points on the back of the incident is actually funnier than the original sketch.

By: Connie Veneracion

Connie Veneracion — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:43:39 +0000

Angela, re “Bakit walang pumupuna sa mga shows natin the way they portrays gays/lesbians, maids, etc.?”

I saw “Monster Mom” recently and the treatment that the maid character got from Annabelle Rama’s character is, well… “verbally abusive” would be a mild description. Yet, people found the movie hilarious considering how much money it made.

Unsentpostcards, “nakikisawsaw lang ang mga tao sa issue”

Ahhh, the proverbial bandwagon mentality. And I like your analysis about why big networks (ABS-CBN and GMA 7) play up these things. Figures.

Ormocanon, Michael V’s song “DJ Bombay” comes to mind.