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Meteor Garden
For three days, I was struggling to compress
all office work within the exact given eight hours just to
catch a 5:30PM TV series in the ABS-CBN channel. When I was
finally able to do so, I got out of my office cubicle, went
straight to the office lobby and borrowed the remote control
from the guard. Sorry guys, save basketball for later. I had
to see for myself what is so magical about this new TV series
that is now a phenomenon in the whole Philippines.
And there it was, the latest “chinovela” entitled
“Meteor Garden.” This Tagalog-dubbed Chinese TV
series, or “telenovela” is just a few months’
old on TV but it has magnetized the masses with a spell. It
shows at 5:30PM and I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets
moved to primetime soon. A lot of people like it.
 While
strolling in the mall one weekend, I saw posters of Meteor
Garden hanging from bargain stands. Elementary kids were towing
their elders to buy them a poster. I overheard a mom whispering
shyly to her husband, “That’s Meteor Garden.”
I went to another bargain square downtown and saw some more
vendors awash with Meteor Garden pictures and posters. It
is the latest craze among the youngsters.
So if you think that Filipinos are colonial, think again.
That is a long-forgotten and overused self-defeating label.
Filipinos are still living the Asian way and falling head-over-heels
with decent-looking Asian heartthrobs.
Yes, Meteor Garden is overflowing with Chinks. It stars
F4, an all-male Chinese group of four whose flair can be described
as no other than that of an Asian boy-band; and San Cai, the
simple girl with humble roots whom these guys are falling
in love with in the show. But of course, the show is a hit
to matriarchal Philippines because of the four gentlemen.
This is the first time though that I’ve heard of young
Filipino kids expressing their crushes on Chinese guys. In,
uh, my time, we already patronized the oriental Star Rangers,
Voltes V, and Mazinger-Z. Sigh, no boy-bands. Only Lief Garrett.
This year, move over American boy bands with “kamiseta”
and elephant jeans. Hello chinky-eyed Ken, Vic, Jerry, and
Vanness in khakis and decent tops—wholesome Chinese icons
for kids.
Vendors of pirated CDs in the local downtown area are flooded
with F4 albums. Everywhere I turn, F4 is there. Their MTV
vidoes show no crotch-holding stints like Eminem. Only a blend
of chorus and fancy Chinese stints in the form of falling
meteors behind the scene. You can guess it right, the title
of that song is “Meteor Rain.”
A lot of Chinese have been gaining visibility as models
for fashion and electronic products. Have you ever found relief
that when you see fashionable Asian women, you’re glad
to see that natural 75A breasts look normal, befitting our
Asian build? But have you ever felt inadequate whenever you
see Caucasian women from Vogue magazines, prompting you to
feel like getting hold of a bra maximizer right away? When
you see Asian models of fashion wear, however, you don’t
panic. You feel you like you belong. You feel just right.
If you remember a very old provincial saying that goes, “in
the end, China will win,” then maybe we can theorize
now that China has won. Stroll along the Philippine trade
centers and look well at what goods are sold cheaply. They’re
all made in China. They don’t look bad either. China
has a cheap labor force that a lot of products and big brand
names in the US have been manufactured there. Naturally, it
is easy for them to copy designs.
An original pair of Nike shoes is almost P5,000 on the average.
Fake ones from China are just over a thousand bucks and you
wouldn’t notice the difference. Louis Vuitton bags, Ferragamo
wallets, Diesel shoes, you name it. Every one is using it.
And China has made it available to the masses.
Intellectual property rights is another story. But in the
present world economic situation when everything seems to
be slow-moving, China goods have kept the mass consumption
alive and kicking here in the Philippines.
So if you think colonialism is still ripe here, stop, look,
and listen. We are all turning Chinese. I wouldn’t doubt
against it. Our next-door neighbor’s teenage girl is
playing F4’s mandarin version of “Can’t Lose
You.” The only intelligible words to me being “oh
baby, baby, my baby, baby…” Nin hao! *
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