Vlog(g)ing Sino Ka Man: On Vlogs and Created Filipino Identities

Fuerte, D.A.M. (2017). VLOG(G)ING SINO KA MAN: On Vlogs and Created Filipino Identities, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines, College of Mass Communication.

Abstract

Blogs as a communication medium have been making a mark in the Filipino virtual sphere, and continue to evolve with the onset of technological innovations. YouTube, since its launch in 2005, has also played an integral role in this evolution. More and more Filipinos are adapting to this change, and now, blogs have become video blogs or vlogs, which are much easier to navigate but include more space for implications and stereotypes to emerge.

With that said, this study seeks to answer the theoretical inquiry: What Filipino identity is created according to the Filipino-centric content of the vlogs and the personalities of the vloggers themselves?

Through comparative textual analysis using semiotics and Sikolohiyang Pilipino as framework, it was found that pakikipagkapwa is successfully presented as a dominant ideology that simply defines how a Filipino should be. The Filipino as Kapwa is an identity that was presented as a stereotype justified by a system wherein individuals perceive, understand, and explain an existing situation or arrangement with the result of the situation being maintained (Jost & Banaji, 1994). The vloggers play a vital role in the creation of this perception and the proliferation of the stereotypes, although unknowingly or unintentionally, because of the signs and symbols they present in their content.

Keywords: vlogs, YouTube, Filipino-ness, stereotypes, pakikipagkapwa

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