On Racism and "Desperate Housewives"
I heard Susan Mayer and remembered the Recto Avenue. And its “diplomas.”
I don’t think it necessary for Desperate Housewives to cut that scene. It has caused great displeasure, yes, but to meddle with a work of art (whether a low/pop soap opera or high art) is to violate it.
After all, according to the mimetic theory, art is a reflection of reality. In this note, Terry Hatcher’s character shows the subconscious of an American who would laugh at what Filipinos would consider a desperate attempt at humor, a disparaging violative of our identity in the international scene of healthcare. Indeed, it creates a stereotype of medical education here. But it works to the Americans’ disadvantage too, because it just shows the racism in their ignorant heads.
A scene like that, though fiction, betrays the hidden prejudice that foreigners have on Filipinos. Nonetheless, for me it is at some extent a chance at recognizing what’s really ours to speak of and to be proud of, in this case, our medical practitioners and nurses. I have to admit. I didn’t care about our physicians, much less my mother as a physician, before the show sparked protests from Fil-Ams and Pinoys here. Only then did I read papers about the issue and found out how invaluable the impact of medical professionals have influenced healthcare in the US. Moreover, I also became aware of the recognition awarded to Lily Lara as one of the top ten nurses of the US (bet you didn’t know that, did ya?)
Albeit a personal note, I take for granted that a lot of us don’t care that much about our own doctors and how valuable they and their expertise are to our country.
I personally feel that our Senators’ reactions to this are a clear showing of being very Filipino: amor propio… pride. I commend them for that. In fact, admittedly, that is one Filipino virtue that I am tempted to stick to. But with it, I can only find myself too partial to my country without getting to see the reality that its own inhabitants disparage themselves. We disparage ourselves, not just the Americans. Indeed, Desperate Housewives’ racial slur works to the Americans’ disadvantage too, because it just shows the racism in their ignorant heads. However, isn’t a great number of us, also ignorant and, worse, racist? Don’t Filipinos also visit their doctors for rhinoplasty and nip tucks, so as to conform with Western standards?WE think that being as fair as Regine Velasquez is better than being as morena as Katrina Halili (who by the way, and despite the nose lift, is still more attractive). With our colonial mentality that follows the fashion sense of the West and not our own indigenious culture, I don’t think anyone else is to blame if other nations make fun us when we make fun of ourselves in the first place.