Black Comedy
aagbayani@theguidon.com
I get a lot of flak for my taste.
When I get particularly enthusiastic about a film I’ve seen recently or a book I’ve just finished and no one else has heard about it, I get one of two responses: blank faces and hipster triangles.
I have no intention, though, of attacking the mainstream in this column. Enough hipsters have done that that it’s become mainstream. What interests me is the sharp divide both producers and consumers create between media they consider “mainstream” and “indie.”
The first thing we need to understand here is genre. While genre is necessary in understanding media, it is, by nature, reductive. For instance, the fact that The Nutty Professor and Little Miss Sunshine can both be found in the comedy section of a DVD store is beyond me, when their humor is radically different.
Furthermore, certain classifications are more hegemonic than you’d think. What does “alternative” mean anyway? It could mean anything from “unconventional” to “available as another option.”
A whole spectrum of musical styles is simply thrown into “alternative” or “indie” simply because they’re outside of the mainstream. How can you even think of putting Sufjan Stevens, Grimes and Vampire Weekend in the same category?
While there’s definitely power in both indie and mainstream media, the divide between the two marginalizes both sides. Media consumers can be dismissive of what’s “too hipster” or “too mainstream.” It’s not healthy for the industry and, in my opinion, it’s just a really sad way to live.
Films like Ang Nawawala and Thy Womb were pulled out of cinemas prematurely during their respective runs, partly because the mainstream audience had immediately dismissed them as highbrow when at least the former had real commercial appeal.
Hipsters are equally guilty of this dismissive attitude, sometimes going to the extent of denouncing something after it’s arrived in the mainstream. “I listened to Frank Ocean before he was cool,” or, “I read The Hunger Games before the movies came out,” are myopic and downright lame things to say. Can new Frank Ocean and Hunger Games fans not partake in your street cred?
I reject the hipster label because of the inherent condescension towards pop that comes with it. I think real street cred comes not from the rejection of the mainstream but from an acknowledgment of mainstream media’s limitations and a celebration of the good that can come out of it. So, for instance, I’d say that Joanna Newsom and Taylor Swift are songwriters of the same caliber—albeit for different kinds of songs.
What audiences need to do is become more open towards other media and other audiences. I’m not that saying people should like all media—Brillante Mendoza will continue to alternately offend and bore some viewers and Enteng Kabisote will do the same.
However, audiences need to consider the alternative as more than merely an alternative and the mainstream as more than a relentless stream of garbage. The divide remains and it always will, but I hope more people gain the boldness to see what and who, for them, exists on the other side.
It pays off sometimes.
