The Chinese-Filipino Identity Crisis: Finding One's Self Through Media
Abstract
Palaran, Michiko Pearl. (2019). The Chinese-Filipino Identity Crisis: Finding One’s Self Through Media. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman: College of Mass Communication
With the current Chinese-Filipino generation struggling to understand their identity, they try to make sense of themselves with the help of Chinese-Filipino personalities in the media. Traditional media only offers limited representation of the Chinese-Filipino community. On digital media, there are three Chinese-Filipina influencers known as The Trio—Kryz Uy, Laureen Uy, and Camille Co.
Using theories of ethnic identification and media representation, this study aimed to find out how ethnic identification factor in the reception of The Trio and their content. Through interviewing 10 female Chinese-Filipino followers of The Trio, this study aimed to analyze the relationship between the audience and the producers, and the effect of similar ethnicity on the subscription of the audiences.
With information, entertainment, and aspiration as emerging primary motives of the audience in following the influencers, this thesis located ethnic identification in the reception of the content of The Trio. Furthermore, it looked into the current Chinese traditions that are still being practiced by the community, and how the culture will be carried on in the future generations.
Keywords: Chinese-Filipino, identification, media representation, influencers, digital media