Fil-Ams, Identity Politics, and The Racist Philippine Media

This week there have been three big "triumphs" for Fil-Ams within the American media-industrial complex.

First up are the two guys who "pranked" McDonald's by hanging a picture of themselves inside their local McDonald's restaurant. They are now going to be part of a McDonald's marketing campaign.

https://entertainment.inquirer.net/294026/watch-fil-ams-who-hung-self-made-poster-at-mcdonalds-to-be-featured-in-campaign

The television host surprised Jehv Maravilla and Christian Toledo, two Filipino-Americans who hung their self-made poster at the fast-food chain, by announcing that they would be featured in its marketing campaign. Degeneres made the announcement on “The Ellen Degeneres Show” aired Monday,  Sept. 17. 

Degeneres said that what Maravilla and Toledo did was a “good prank,” and invited them to guest at her show. She asked them how they pulled it off. She got curious as to how Maravilla managed to get into the fast-food chain unnoticed—by dressing up as a fake manager. 

But she saved the best for last: Not only do they get featured in the campaign, but also get paid for it for $25,000 (approximately P1.3 million).

A good prank? Hardly!  By no means was this stunt a prank. It was more of a political statement since the genesis of the "prank" was that these two guys thought Asians were not being represented enough in the media. The one guy even says in the video clip that he was influenced by the movie Crazy Rich Asians, having seen it three times.

“If you haven’t noticed, there isn’t a lot of Asians represented in media,” Maravilla said in a YouTube video titled, “How to Become McDonalds Poster Models.” 

“And hopefully one day I could see someone like me on the big screen,” he added, alongside another Photoshopped picture of himself on the movie poster of the latest blockbuster hit “Crazy Rich Asians.” 

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2018/09/fil-ams-give-free-publicity-to.html

A good prank would have had these two guys eating a Burger King Whopper or a Subway footlong in that picture. That would have been subversive and hilarious. Or if they had been dressed like zombies to represent mindless consumerism. Or if they had been dressed as butchers and one of them holding a bloody cow's head because McDonald's uses factory farming to get its meat.  

But instead they did the whole identity politics thing and Ellen, a woman famous for her identity politics as she "came out" as a lesbian on her 90's sitcom, got them a spot on her show and a paid spot in a McDonald's advertising campaign. Ellen actually says, "McDonald's loves customers like you and they're committed to diversity and want to represent all their customers so they are going to use the two of you in a marketing campaign." Jehv and Christian become verbally excited at this literally shouting in surprise and joy. Do these two realise that now they are marketing tools in a campaign to allegedly promote diversity but the only real aim of which is to sell more Big Macs? McDonald's does not care about these two friends and is not rewarding them for their "prank." They only care about how they can capitalise on their ethnicity. Their ethnicity has now become a marketing ploy! Welcome to the machine!

Jevh and Christian have been given $25,000 as a price for their bodies. That translates to P1.3million which is not chump change over here and I can just picture relatives they barely know or have never met coming out of the woodwork, holding out their hands, and expecting a slice of that pie.

Second up is this guy:

https://entertainment.inquirer.net/294185/darren-criss-first-fil-win-major-emmy-prize

Darren Criss won best actor in a limited series or movie for his performance in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” in the 70th Prime-time Emmy Awards held on Monday (Tuesday morning in Manila) at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. 

Criss elicited glowing reviews for his transformation as Cunanan—from a bright high school student, the son of a Filipino-American father and an Italian-American mother, who grew up in the San Diego area, to a spree murderer who killed himself eight days after fatally shooting Versace. 

According to Murphy, one of the reasons he cast Criss was that he is half-Filipino as Andrew Cunanan was. Criss, whose father Charles William Criss is of Irish heritage, noted the irony that he won plaudits for essaying the true-to-life story of a Fil-Am who was on America’s most wanted list.

Fil-Am plays gay Fil-Am who murdered Gianni Versace (that's the fashion designer if you do not know). It's another case of identity politics. According to Philippine media this guy is not just Darren Criss. No not at all. He has transcended himself and become an ethnic archetype of success in the West for all Filipinos to follow. He is not just a good actor, he is the first Fil-Am actor to win an Emmy in a major category. It's historic! 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/showbiz/showbizabroad/668220/fil-am-actor-darren-criss-wins-historic-emmy-for-lsquo-assassination-of-gianni-versace-rsquo/story/

To the Philippine media the only thing important about this guy is that he is the first Fil-Am to win an Emmy in the Primetime Lead Actor Category. He is not the first Fil-Am to win an Emmy though.

Darren Criss also thinks his performance is historic but not for the reason the Philippine media does.

http://oceanup.com/2018/06/21/darren-criss-explains-why-its-a-fcking-privilege-to-portray-gay-characters/

“It’s a historically heroic narrative that involves resilient brave people and to be any kind of beacon for that story for any characterization of that element is fucking amazing…Like what a f**king privilege,” he says.

Darren thinks homosexual roles are "historically heroic" and involve "brave people." Does that apply to the homosexual killer he pretended to be and for which portrayal he won an Emmy? It's funny Darren thinks playing a homosexual character is a privilege because there are many who think that straight people playing homosexual roles marginalises homosexual actors by taking away roles they rightfully deserve. According to these people only homosexuals should play homosexuals.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mb4wqb/how-straight-actors-playing-gay-can-hurt-the-lgbtq-community

In contrast to the Philippines it seems no other media outlets are making a big deal out of Darren Criss' Filipino heritage or his Irish heritage either. It's only the Philippine media that is screaming "Ethnic-American wins an Emmy." Is not this highlighting of race inherently racist? Having been born in San Fransisco and raised in the USA all his life the only thing "Fil" about this "Am" is his mother.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120718025806/http://www.zeibiz.com/2010/12/glee-star-darren-criss-visits-his-moms-homeland-the-philippines123/

“My mom is Cebuano, she’s Spanish, Chinese. My father is very, very white. I’m not like full Filipino but definitely I have many parts of me that are. My family’s Filipino. My family’s in the Philippines. It’s our culture and heritage that I’ve always been proud of, simply because it’s such a cool place. And my friends who are Filipinos are the coolest.”

There you go. He admits it. He is not Filipino. This man is an American. Like the lady who was lauded by the Philippine media for being the first Fil-Am federal judge he most certainly has no "Filipino consciousness." He does not even describe his mom as Filipino. She is described as Cebuano while her ethnic background is Spanish and Chinese! I have a thesis that Filipinos do not actually exist and this lady's genetic make-up seems to verify that hypothesis. What is a Filipino anyway? Ethnically I mean. A very mixed bag! If a Spaniard and a Chinese woman have a child in Europe would he be an ethnic Filipino?

Finally, a Fil-Am has been cast as the host in the revival of Blue's Clues.

https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/news/211978-joshua-dela-cruz-new-blues-clues-host-reboot

How great is that? Nickelodeon is hopping on the reboot and revival train and is firing up this old preschooler's TV show once more. Will it be as successful as the Roseanne revival or the X-Files revival? Will dela Cruz get recognised in public and hit on by single moms like his predecessor, Donovan Patton? (A long time ago I read that happened to him but that 16-year old article is not available.)

There is not much biographical information about Joshua dela Cruz online. His resume states that he earned a BFA at Montclair State University which is in New Jeresy. This article in Philstar does not give a definitive answer as to his birthplace though his bloodline is mentioned:

With Ilocano and Bicolano bloodlines, a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from Montclair State University in New Jersey, Joshua disclosed in an earlier interview that working with other Filipino-Americans reminded him of fiestas.

https://www.philstar.com/entertainment/2018/03/12/1795754/another-filipino-takes-lead-broadways-aladdin

But he does say he is remind of fiestas. Maybe he visited the Philippines when he was younger. Or maybe he was born here. I don't know. But it sure is great that a Fil-Am, not just a successful Broadway actor, is going to be the host of the revival of Blue's Clues. It's definitely more important to celebrate this guy's ethnicity than his years of hard work and professionalism in such a demanding field.

Filipinos sure do get excited when anyone with the slightest drop of Filipino blood coursing through their veins does anything noteworthy and positive. Is it racist or is it merely ethnic pride to reduce a man to his ethnicity so long as he has done something which reflects positively on his ethnicity? What is the difference? Is it racist to be proud of your race? 

It's understandable that Filipinos want to be recognised. They want to see their countrymen's faces in bright lights because they think they have been marginalised and left out of society at large. Couple that with the world-wide trend of people demanding studios accurately portray fictional characters in TV and film (which means only transexuals should play transexuals and only an Asian actress should play the main character in an anime film) and it's hard not to miss the hypocrisy that FIVE Filipino actors were cast in the Broadway production of Disney's Aladdin.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/news/594453/broadway-rsquo-s-lsquo-aladdin-rsquo-one-big-happy-filipino-family/story/

Five of the “Aladdin” actors playing at least five distinct roles in this Disney musical are Filipinos. If we are to count Angelo Soriano juggling a dozen male parts, it does feel like an all-Pinoy cast, validating a popular notion that there is, indeed, an ethnic Filipino enclave on Broadway.

The hypocrisy is that in the Disney movie everyone is Middle Eastern. In the original tale from the Arabian Nights Aladdin is Chinese! Do they realise the whole production is guilty of Filipino-washing!