Re-presenting Filipino popular culture: A postmodern reading of selected short stories by Rolando Tolentino

• Main Author: Bustamante, Karl Michel Yuhico
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Short stories; Philippine > Collections; Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2120
• Institution: De La Salle University

This is a critical thesis that uses Linda Hutcheon's theory of Postmodernism, mainly her take on parody, to illustrate Rolando Tolentino's molding of Filipino popular culture in his stories. This thesis also utilizes Rolando Tolentino's view of popular culture in the Philippines as seen in his other books on pop culture as background. The paper focuses mainly on the images of pop culture that manifests itself in the text and how it re-contextualizes them and in effect, shows something about the present Filipino culture. Each story parodies a certain facet of Filipino popular culture. These are: 1. Fastfood culture 2. Political and Academic culture 3. Malling culture The silence of the characters in each of the stories is also given emphasis in the analysis. There is also a chapter dedicated to Megamall. It analyzes the effects and implications it has in the texts.