Message Behind a Filipino Music Video

In my Human Art class when I was in college, we were tasked to choose between 5 filipino music videos...  I have chosen the music video of “Penge Naman” by Itchyworms not because its my favorite.. (haha... no noh!) but because eh isa ito sa mga pagpipilian... haha... pinili ko ito kasi I think that it showcases the elements of the new era of the film industry. 

 

The music video is like a short film. It has a story that tackles a major issue in the world today, which is the discrimination of the physical being of a person despite the talent each acquires. The story starts in an audition room where in a group of hopeful talented people were being criticized by a panel of judges because of their looks, color, shape and size. They asked these hopeful people to change the way they look by all means; dieting till you starve, exercise till you faint, have a liposuction, undergo botox and whatever the Belo and Calayan companies offer. The funny thing is that, that scene is really ironic because the judges themselves were fat and ugly at the same time. I also noticed something written in the wall of the audition room which says: “Pogi Rock, Key to Success” and honestly speaking, in our society this is somehow true! Because as we can see, the Philippine showbizness is really a cruel industry! If your ugly, you’re out of the picture or just have minor roles and if you’re good looking, you are given a chance to shine until they find someone who is more good looking than you and when that happens, like those ugly people; you’re out of the scene! For me, this kind of thinking is really depressing and frustrating because I rather prefer a not so good looking person with an immense talent than watching a good looking person with no other talent than to smile! This paradigm should be stop at once, they tend to be an icon for a lot of people and these people try to emulate such icons. People are affected with their actions and a lot of these ordinary people try to achieve the standards that this hypocrite industry made. This music video wants to show people the reality behind the glamour and fame of show business and also the irony of this illusion! The irony is that whether the music video showed the cruelty of this business with regards to such discrimination; the artists in the video wants us to think that it’s not always that way. Why? For the fact that in reality, the Itchyworms despite their appearances is one of the most sought after bands here in the country!