Online Lamentation

Marcelino, F. A. (2011). Online Lamentation: eLibing’s Representation of Filipino Grief, Unpublished Undergraduate Dissertation, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication

This study focuses on the translation of cultural traditions on the internet. In the Filipino society where the number of Overseas Filipino Workers is increasing, the role of new media in the performance of Filipino traditions is becoming more significant. This study seeks to find how new media represents cultural traditions to its audiences. Using Deconstruction, this study aims to identify representations of the Filipino ritual of mourning- libing on the internet through an online interment service called eLibing. The study believes that the images of eLibing possess latent meanings that create new notions of the Filipino way of grieving and mourning. In order to fulfill the needs of the study, textual analysis will be conducted on five videos of eLibing uploaded on the website of St. Peter’s Gate from November 2010 to January 2011. The study asserts that representations of eLibing entail its audience to continue their socio-economic roles during the time of bereavement.

Keywords: eLibing, representation, images, grief, socio-economic roles