our daily bore

Let us first forget about our critical selves that want deep stories of Oscar worhty movies. Let us, for this time, just enjoy the ride. Those maistream entertainment fare without complicated plots or brain-fucked endings. What we have now is a story that we already know the resolution even before the problem started. But I am not complaining.

Friends with Benefits is shallow yet unpretentious, cool and charming. The first scenes was a bit slow and dragging despite some witty banters. But after that first salvo, everything went as expected. Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake are beautiful non-couple with mutual understanding of sex and friendship. And it goes well. Or so they thought. Because, again expectedly, it turned out that they have feelings for each other. More than friends, that is. 

     And how can you get more mainstream and cliché than that? Complications and bruised ego, the cute dance number like our 80's Regal Films, the oversimplified solution to heartaches and family problems, etc.

Some days ago, I saw an FB post from a good friend Rogelio Braga. It was a link to F. Sionil Jose's Philstar article, "Why we are shallow". His contentions are actually very valid, sound and logical. Except for the first part. The take-off. The premise. The most important part.

It could have been another interesting piece from one of my favorite book authors. But that double-standard perspective ruined it all. Here's what he wrote, that 1st part:

"..Recently, I was seated beside former Senator Letty Shahani, PhD in Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne, watching a medley of Asian dances. The stately and classical Japanese number with stylized movements which perhaps took years to master elicited what seemed to me grudging applause. Then, the Filipino tinikling which any one can learn in 10 minutes; after all that energetic jumping, an almost standing ovation. Letty turned to me and asked, “Why are we so shallow?”

Yes, indeed, and for how long?.."

Oh! Really?! Shallow are those people who exhibited more appreciation in tinikling over the Jap number? Not to discredit, of course, the classical Japanese dance! But to say that one is better than the other and throw judgement as if it's the standard of beauty is something that I find very disturbing.