Ano ang Pormang Pinoy? (What is Filipino Style?)

Abstract

That, speaking of pormang Pinoy (Filipino style), whether we like it or not, form and context in our culture need not match, need not be harmonious and need not be one; at least, not in the western concept of harmony and oneness. Maybe our culture just has so much diversity that we have learned to live with the presence of so many forms that need not come in "sets" as in a western style dinner set where each piece must match the other pieces. The gap between form and context or content is more prevalent for the well-off and the schooled than those who are not; and this is because the former can afford to indulge in their whims. They are also better exposed to what the powerful and the mighty (the "class") indulge in. Ans since "mass follows class" the syndrome filters down to the masses in diminishing degree as one moves down the economic ladder or as one physically moves away from the growth center which serve as the bastions of the political, social, and economic elites. These growth centers and the elites are the most effective conduits of imported goods and imported ideas--unadulterated, in their original forms, initially, but adapted by necessity and more and more within local contexts as they filter down the masses.