May 2, 2015

"Though American shows once dominated the East African television schedule..."

"... familiar themes like village-to-city migration and patriarchal Christian values have made the soap operas from the Philippines more attractive to the Ugandan audience."
“You need to make sure that there's some element of African kind of living, the life that we see everyday,” says Robert Semakula, a programmer for Bukedde TV, one of Uganda’s top stations that runs “Be Careful With My Heart”. Each year for the last three years, Mr. Semakula has sorted through a catalogue of shows from foreign media, and lately, Filipino soaps have made the pick....

Filipino soaps find an audience in Uganda because they adhere to a common formula, described by Graham, as a "Cinderella story, a young girl in the country who’s relatively innocent and looks after her relatives, and she’s immediately transported to a place of great corruption, a city or a rich family." Muwonge says these shows connect because they deal with poverty and other issues affecting Ugandans' everyday lives....

Uganda is notorious for its intolerance of gay people and has long had antigay laws. So when Filipino soap operas – which have recently begun to show positive portrayals of gay culture – show two men in a relationship, the station often cuts the scene or storyline.

“The audience won't understand that,” Semakula says.

17 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Filipino women aren't massively spoiled brats like you, Bishop.

They love men and revere marriage, and they are generally quite religious. I'll take one of those over a spoiled brat like you in bed, too. They actually like hetero sex, not the S&M game you're into.

There is a well defined ancient role for gays in Filipino society. I attended Mass at the cathedral in Cebu, and one section of the pews was filled with fully decked out queens. Producing heirs, and the reciprocal obligations of the child to the parent (which you in your delusional madness are trying to destroy) are still sacred in Filipino society.

Gay Filipino men don't have the fucking chip on their shoulder that white American men do. They're fun. Even the Filipino lezzies like men. I'm sure the Flips have fag hags like you, but I haven't run into them yet.

Shouting Thomas said...

I have yet to meet a Filipino in the U.S. or in the Philippines who is worried about what will happen to him or her when he or she reaches old age and dementia.

The young and unemployed are expected to care for the old, sick, demented and dying. Reciprocal obligation.

This is what the Bishop of Butt Fucking is bent on destroying. Previous generations of spoiled fucking white brats already did a lot of the work, but the Bishop is going in for the kill.

Of course, the Bishop has a lifetime sinecure and she hasn't worked a day in 45 years, so what the fuck is that to her?

rhhardin said...

I wonder if there are Japanese soap operas. That ought to reduce the birthrate.

rhhardin said...

Soap Dish (DVD) with Sally Field was, surprisingly, amusing, a meta-soap.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It varies, but Mad Men is about 30% soap opera garbage, by my rough estimate.

In all fairness, people in show business can't reasonably expect to get rich and famous by telling ordinary idiots they're being played by advertisers.

Not in a way they'd readily understand so as to take offense, anyway.

Laslo Spatula said...

I would like to watch a Japanese soap opera about a tight-knit group of vibrant Japanese high-school girls: their hopes, their dreams, their pillow-fights.

In today's episode Ayako sells her bicycle seat to a mysterious white businessman, and then must hide the condition of her seat-less bicycle from her parents.

Also: Raku and Keiko discover that someone has stolen their white cotton panties from the laundromat dryer again.

Finally: Kinuko decides it is time to tell the other girls her Secret.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Kinuko: Sweet friends, I have a Big Secret that I have to tell you...

Ayako: I LOVE secrets!!!!!

Keiko: Tell us, Kinuko! Tell us!

Kinuko: You MUST keep this a secret though, you must!

Raku: We WILL, Kinuko!

Kinuko: Okay, okay, my wonderful friends, here it is: I work after school as a Tea Cup Girl.

Raku: Huh?

Keiko: Tea Cup Girl? What is that?

Ayako: Yes, TELL us! What is a Tea Cup Girl?

Kinuko: Well, it is a Club where you talk to men...

Raku: Go on! Go on!

Kinuko: Then they pay you to go behind a screen in front of them and pee into a Tea Cup.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Raku: Then what happens?

Kinuko: Then you come out from behind the screen and present the cup to them.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Ayako: Do they -- you know -- DRINK it?

Kinuko: No, no, they don't drink it, silly -- that is against the Club's rules.

Raku: Then what do they do with it?

Kinuko: They bring the tea cup in both hands up to their nose, close their eyes and slowly inhale.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Raku: That's it, Kinuko?

Kinuko: That's it.

Ayako: And they pay you for this?

Kinuko: Two-hundred dollars American. Plus tip. But that's not ALL of the secret...

Raku: There's more?

Ayako: Yes: there's more? TELL us, Kinuko!

Kinuko: I saw Suki's Father there.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Raku: Did he see you?

Kinuko: No, no. He went straight back to the Golden Bowl Room.

Raku: The Golden Bowl Room?

Keiko: Yes! What is the Golden Bowl Room?

Kinuko: Ohhhh my: I don't think I'm ready to tell you about THAT yet...


I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Kinuko: Okay, okay. I'll tell you.

Ayako: Yay!

Keiko: Tell us, Kinuko! Tell us!

Kinuko: The Golden Bowl Room is where all the dirty girls are.

Raku: Dirty girls?

Kinuko: Yes: the Golden Bowl Girls are very dirty girls.

Raku: Tell us more!

Ayako: Yes, TELL us! What is a Golden Bowl Girl?

Kinuko: Well, it is the Room where they talk to men...

Raku: Go on! Go on!

Kinuko: Then they get paid to go behind a screen in front of the men and...

Raku: AND?!

Kinuko: And the Girls poop into a Golden Bowl.

Ayako: POOP-poop?

KInuko: Yes: POOP-poop.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Raku: Then what happens?

Kinuko: Then they come out from behind the screen and present the bowl to them.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Ayako: Do they -- you know -- EAT it?

Kinuko: No, no, the Men don't eat it-- that is against the Club's rules.

Raku: Then what do they do with it?

Kinuko: They bring the bowl in both hands up to their nose, close their eyes and slowly inhale.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Raku: That's it, Kinuko?

Kinuko: Well, they then put the poop into a small plastic baggie and take it home with them.

Ayako: What do they do with the plastic baggie?

Kinuko: I don't know, and I don't want to know.

Ayako: They ARE dirty girls!

Kinuko: That's what I said...

Raku: Those men could be right by you on the bus, with a baggie full of poop in their pockets!

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Ayako: And you saw Suki's Father go in there?

Kinuko: I saw Suki's Father go in there.

Raku: Did you see him come out?

Kinuko: Yes, I saw him come out.

Raku: Did he have a baggie?

Kinuko: Yes, I think he had a baggie.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Ayako: Why are men so weird?

Kinuko: You should hear about the No-Touch Sushi Bar...



I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Ayako: You know, Kinuko, that makes me feel less bad about MY secret.

Keiko: YOU have a secret, Ayako?

Raku: Tell us! Tell us!

Kinuko: Yes, Ayako, tell us!

Ayako: Well...

Raku: Don't stop now!

Ayako: ...I work after school in a club where businessmen pay to watch my boyfriend have sex with me...

Raku: Ooooooooh...

Ayako: ...in my ass.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Kinuko: These men don't touch you, do they?

Ayako: No, no: they are VERY respectful and polite.

Keiko: But in your ass, Ayako?

Ayako: It's not really that bad...

Kinuko: MY boyfriend likes to have ass-sex with me, but I can't imagine doing it in FRONT of people.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Ayako: I get a LOT of money and gifts. See this purse?

Raku: I LOVE that purse!

Ayako: Well, I got it by having ass-sex in front of strangers.

Kinuko: It IS a really nice purse.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Kinuko: Keiko, you keep saying "Ewww", but surely you have a dirty sexy secret of your own, don't you?

Keiko: I'm just not as experimental as you girls...

Raku: Oh, I know ONE story about Keiko...

Ayako: Do tell!!

Keiko: Raku, I told you never to tell!

Raku: But it is just us girls, sitting around in our underwear: surely you can tell the story.

Kinuko: Come on, Keiko, tell us!

Keiko: Well, a well-dressed older gentleman offered me two-thousand dollars American to star in a bukkake video.

Ayako: Two-thousand dollars American? Did you do it?

Keiko: I asked if I could wear a shower cap, and when he said 'No' I said 'No'.

Raku: Men really like to see the semen in your hair, apparently.

Keiko: Ewwwwww!

Ayako: Why are men so weird?

Kinuko: I'd like a new purse.


I am Laslo.

Wilbur said...

I just got off the phone with the Ugandan consulate.

They report that the Ugandan people's favorite show is "Rin Tin Tin".

They're also partial to "Petticoat Junction" and "Pete and Gladys".

Who'd a thunk it?

YoungHegelian said...

I wish some enterprising cultural anthropologist would do some research into just why it is that so many sub-saharan cultures have such a deep-seated animosity towards homosexuality. It would take a lot of work, and require, to say the least, some rather unique linguistic skills.

I've had so many lefties repeat the same old, hoary canard that it was American fundamentalists who brought it over. What bullshit! The fundies aren't even that anti-gay over here! There hasn't been the time for a fundy import of such an idea to cover that much geography in such little time, much less to attain such societal depth.

buwaya said...

Its funny.
The last I knew Mexican telenovelas were big in the Philippines. I never thought there was much of an export market for native TV.
I havent seen Filipino TV in decades, other than my favorite TV Patrol.
I had a look at the present offerings, and there are indeed a pile of soap operas. The striking thing is the actors are even more mestizo (white) than they used to be.
The theme of the servant girl from the provinces come to Manila to get into trouble with her corrupt employers is old, old, old, in movies, radio, even stage plays and vaudeville from the 1920s. The role is standard, many actresses have used it as a vehicle.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
n.n said...

A principle of evolutionary fitness is not uncommon throughout the world's people. It is only recently that transgenderism, transsexualism, contraception, abortion, and other dysfunctional orientations and behaviors have been normalized. Probably because luxury and fantasy are a rare commodity in a developing society for anyone other than the minority leaders.

That said, principled tolerance, not selective exclusion. A pro-choice religion has enduring consequences.

Gahrie said...

To that poor bastard that is reading all of this as research 200 years in our future:

Laslo is not representative of our times and values.

(but he did capture the Japanese pretty well..)

n.n said...

Shouting Thomas:

Conventional (i.e. naturally, morally engendered) forms of "shared responsibility" deprive the State of capital and control gained through revenue recovery and opiate distribution. The minority leaders will never accept diminished wealth, status, and stature.

The status quo is the history and myths told of conventional religions but magnified through global marginalization and neutralization of individuals through "free trade", excessive and unmeasured (i.e. illegal) immigration, class diversity, and, of course, selective-child policy.

hombre said...

YoungHegelian: "I've had so many lefties repeat the same old, hoary canard that it was American fundamentalists who brought it over. What bullshit!"

Exactly! My family has a history with Uganda. My son and his wife live in Gulu now. The Ugandan, in fact, African, animosity toward gays is not an offshoot of American "fundamentalism," whatever the lefties think that is.

Articles in the NYT, perpetuated in Wikipedia, on the occasion of Uganda's anti-gay legislation promulgated that nonsense, complete with cherry picked examples, because the truth was inconsistent with the gay activist agenda. These idiots refuse to acknowledge, let alone, publish the "hate the sin, love the sinner" message followed by biblical Christians. "Homophobic" is ever so much more useful for their political purposes. In the case of the Ugandan law, it was widely denounced by evangelical leaders as excessive.

Ugandans are hostile to homosexuality because they believe it to be deviant and unnatural. Imagine that! There is also an underlying suspicion that the genesis of the AIDS epidemic that has devastated their population, including heterosexuals, had its genesis with homosexuals. Can you conceive of the NYT or other lefty media entities even mentioning such a thing?