SOUNDS, VISUALS, AND MANY MORE

My radio is always turned on when I enter my room. It is my company which I can switch from one program or station to another. In the daytime, I can listen to discussions; but after two or three hours, I have to switch to classical music with spiritual messages to give my ears respite, and my mind rest from the piles of issues that clog the airwaves. 

I also have my crafts which keep my company while listening. So I am able to do two things at the same time: finish a ball of beads and listen with intent to the political, economic and cultural issues of the day. Crafting makes listening not a chore. You see Folks, the heaviness, the gravity of the issues could wear me down as I get involved easily. Then when I really feel that the sounds are becoming really torturous, then I switch to tones, rhythms, melodies from the classical composers. Ahhh, Nirvana. I forget the issues of the day. No not forget, I just lay them aside till I switch to the station again. 

Here are some observations of mine about certain media and theatre:

1. RADIO: When a reporter commits errors in pronunciation several times in one minute, I start counting how many more will be committed. This is the problem: i cannot forget being a communications teacher;

2. TV: I saw a laundrywoman sitting on a short stool with her basin of clothes and the broadcast reporter interviewing her about the rise in water rates. You know how the guy sat? Higher  than the woman, with his legs spread apart by 3/4 yard, and slouched on the chair. Was that being respectful of the woman? And then the microphone was between his legs-- Good God, what was that? If my TV were in black and white, the microphone would appear as his thingamajig. 

3.  RADIO: Voices I would expect to be well-modulated. You see Folks, radio is an intimate medium and for one to speak on a high pitch would really cause earaches. Now I have the tendency to lower the volume when that happens. Unfortunately, I have to keep it high again in order to catch the other speakers. And so I hope that sound engineers would be alert when they have a host who gets high-strung about discussing issues and so is no longer aware that the voice is becoming intolerably loud;

4.   RADIO: Since radio is an intimate medium, ergo, breathing can be heard all the time if the announcers are not aware. Some I found out have the tendency to inhale and exhale so that they seem to be having a hard time taking in oxygen. But if you listen to BBC or VOA, Folks you would not hear the breaths at all. I think that should be cultivated here. We have to listen to the words being spoken, not the air at all. 

5.  RADIO: Finally, when closing a radio program, I hope that the sound engineers would not just clip the hosts' voice abruptly without their being able to say goodbye at all to the listeners. First, the hosts are young people who could really be tyros in that professions. Secondly, it is rather jarring to the listeners to find them gone right away. So sound engineers please take note. 

6. RADIO: Advising heart problems must be guarded. Conflicts between lovers should be resolved by looking at the side of the woman too. One woman letter-writer is said to be too jealous of her new boyfriend who courted her for two years. Her "true" colors showed, daw. And so she appeared as the contrabida. But what happened if she slept with that guy and he was the one who broke her virginity, wouldn't she get jittery that he might fly away, especially if she is a provincial girl? To the guy, maybe kissing, petting and having a day in bed is just all right and so the girl must not get jealous if he still entertains texting female mates. No my dear, before going to bed, you must have a contract how far that would go -- will it go on and on as we are, as steadies, or do we end up in church? Clarity of intentions has to be made. 

I think advising problems of the heart must be done with the gender issues being a Bible of the adviser, so that he or she could also redirect the opinions of the listeners who would phone in. Those listeners would be spreading conservative views to the others if they would start attacking the woman victim and just praise the manhood of the boyfriend. 

6. THEATRE: When an actor's saliva splashes against his or her co-actor, that does looks like a breach of etiquette doesn't it? I would suggest that the director teach the actor to swallow the saliva before speaking. Anyway, silence is also part of acting. 

7. THEATRE: Cultural norms in the Philippines prohibit a woman from showing her breasts in public. And so even onstage, I think we should observe that, unless, the theatre has become a cabaret, a club bar for prostitution masquerading as theatre. One way of giving a hint of the woman baring is for her to wear flesh coloured tights. 

8. THEATRE: Another cultural norm is kissing onstage. Behn Cervantes taught us in our theatre course how to cheat -- appearing to kiss but not kissing. The man kisses the left cheek of the woman near the lips. This will not make the audience uneasy nor the actress forced to accept an act that she does not really relish going through with a man that is not his spouse or boyfriend. Let us observe our customs and traditions on this matter, please. 

So, Folks let us jot down our observations to make our cultural artists in media and theatre aware that we are sensitive, keeping tab of what we think and feel are right to be presented. In this way, we will be raising the standards for being a media and theatre artists in our country. Let us leave the sexual permissiveness to other countries and concentrate on making our own culturally-sensitive and appropriate to our race.