Group 1: BFF Fries
Castillo, Joshua
dela Cruz, Krysta Eunice
Rodriguez, Bianca
Sanqui, Cienzi Anne
Sundiam, Danica Isabelle
1.
Who is the identity you want to imitate? Why did
you choose this identity?
The group imitated the group or stereotype jejemons. The group chose jejemons, because they became a big fuss
around 4 years ago, because of their socially unaccepted way of chatting,
talking, and acting, and even until now jejemons are still around, which made
the group want to put themselves in the shoes of the jejemons and see the
reactions of people, in particular the Ateneo society. We wanted to see the
effects of being a jejemon in a school that is known for being sosyal or being fashionable.
2. What is your identity’s main function in the society?
Jejemons as a pop culture phenomenon is best explained by the
sociological concept of the deviant. Based on Emile Durkheim’s structural
functionalism perspective deviants’ function in the society by affirming the cultural norms and values of a
society and clarification of right and wrong. By distinguishing which languages
are wrong, it affirms which the standard langaunge. For example was in 2010,
when the DepEd was outrageous to its in popularity in 2010. According to the
DepEd, the jejemon phenomenon is responsible to the prevalence of spelling
errors in academic writing but it also affirms what is the standard language.
But of course, it does not prevent jejemon language from breaking in to the
standard languange.
Language is
rapidly changing and evolving. What the improper use of language today, might
be the standard of tomorrow. In fact in 2010, “jejemon” was chosen as the word
of the year and one of the words to be included in the “UP Diksiyonaryong
Filipino.” It just show the structural function of the Jejemon language into
the evolution of the language.
More than the standardization of the language and evolution of the
language, Jejemon language also brings a sense of unity to the speakers. It’s
what distinguishes them from other groups in society. However, jejemon deviance
also has some its dysfunctions. First, is creates a group of outcast in a
society because of how people think of them. Second is that it creates a class
division in the society. In fact, jejemons are the new jologs of the society
and most of them belong in the lower class. Third is it corrupts the language.
However, not all corruption in the languages are not socially frowned. For
example, are the conyos. Both Jejemons and conyos, corrupt the language but
because different classes use them, it creates a social stigmatization for
both.
3. How does
he/she look like?
The typical and modern jejemons we see wear oversized shirts, jersey
sleevless, baggy/ jersey shorts, cap, long and colorful socks, high cut
sneakers, bling blings and bandana worn on the forehead. Based from our
researches and observations, jejemons don't really have expensive or high-end
gadgets. They usually own phones like Nokia, my phone (locally produced phone)
, or Alcatel. Most Jejemons in the Philippines don't really mind the brands of
the phones they use as long as they can take selfies and get to communicate with their friends or
families. Though most jejemons now own phones that have built-in front cameras,
they still give more importance to the sms services the phone brand gives.
In terms of their physical appearance, jejemoms are mostly morena
since they are usually the ones who are always outside hanging out with their
groups or "tropas". Guy jejemoms dye their hair in whatever color
they want and they follow the k-pop hairstyle (sided bangs with spikes). Girl
jejemoms, on the other hand, maintain their hair colors and sometimes, they
keep their ponytails high. Of course, caps or bandanas will always be part of
their hair accessory. Guy jejemoms don't color their nails while girl jejemoms
usually have colorful nails. They prefer have colorful outfits and they are
artistic in the way they dress in the sense that they get to mix and match a
lot of clothes or pieces of accessory to look the way the think they should
look.
4. How does
he/she speak and behave?
The jejemons most of the time, come in groups of friends, and they
tend to have the same outfits and mode of speaking. They have a way of texting where in they tend
to replace some of the letters that they use with numbers or sometimes, they
even add more unnecessary letters such as Zs, Fs, Us etc. This is actually one
of the main reasons for the conceptualization of the word “Jejemon” (Jeje- they
way they laugh, instead of hehehe).
However, the way they text is not really reflected on how they talk in
person.
It is there are varying levels
of being a jejemon. First of all, there is the mild jejemon, where in there is
the use of short cuts but the words are still understandable. Second, the
moderate jejemons add the letters F, H, Q, and Z where it is not really needed.
Third, the severe jejemons use numbers instead of letters. Lastly, terminal
jejemons are those who create words that are not even understandable anymore.
This is precisely what the parents of these jejemons are scared of, that their
children might forget how to spell words correctly. Nonetheless, these jejemons
suggest that they are still in control of the way they spell words both on text
message and in school.
In line with that, the way they behave is very “Filipino” wherein
sometimes, they actually find the people who speak in English “maarte” or what
not. We can see that there is a need for them to use the Filipino language
instead of English, because that is how they can use their style of texting
more effectively. Their behavior is also very much reflected in the clothes
that they wear, where in they don’t dress up like other people do. This is said
to be because they want to stand out, and they don’t want to be “boring”, in
both clothing and way of texting.
5. What are
their beliefs in life? What are their values?
Their
beliefs include the fact that they think and believe that their way of spelling
things are correct. They take to heart their habits of using extra letters and
numbers in their lives. In one documentary, there were two ‘jejemons’ asked to
write something in normal Filipino - and they used different capitalizations
and spellings even when writing a formal and normal sentence. When asked why
they capitalized the letter l specifically, they answered that it looked boring
and dull if the small letter l was used. That was technically the basis for
their use of extra letters and numbers - to make it look more interesting,
lively, and fun.
Most documentaries
show that they have little value on whether or not they are doing grammar
correctly. They are more concerned with making their sentences more interesting
in a way where it does not look boring. Their lack of concern or value on the
proper use of grammar then results to an effect on them - they do not bother to
correct their spellings and grammar usage anymore. This brings about the
growing concern for the generation today, since most of these ‘jejemons’ come
from these kids, since they care not for the correct grammar use and proper
spelling.
6. How does
his or her day look like?
In a sociological perspective the day of a jejemon would be the same
as the days of someone who is not a jejemon, because what is normal is actually
socially constructed. Hence, in the perspective of the jejemons how they dress,
how they talk, and how they act for them are natural, especially if they
surround themselves with people who are like them or have the same interests.
For those who are not jejemons they would deem it as unnatural, because
jejemons do not act the way society wants them to. Based on the breaching
experiment though, the group realized that jejemons would go about their lives
doing the same things others do (eat, go out, go work, and etc.), but others
seeing them would look at them strangely, and would probably laugh. (This is
proven in the videos).
7. Any
sociological/personal reflections? How did it feel being another person for a
day?
In the sociology aspect, we witnessed how the society judges jejemons.
There are people who laugh at us for being jejemons and it is sad to think that
until now, there is still stereotyping happening in the society. Jejemons are
considered to deviate from the norm because they are not part of the majority.
For the personal part, acting like jejemons even just for a short time felt
really weird. It was weird because we had to act like other people whom we
don't share common personalities with. We really had to study how jejemons act
and speak because we don't want to offend anyone. We really tried to act
naturally so that we will be able to portray the jej on image well. When we
were acting like jejemons in the Gonzaga cafeteria, people started laughing at
us and they were mocking the way we act and speak. Because of this, we (the
group) felt that the reason why other people acted that way is because they
consider jejemons deviant. Though a lot of other people criticize jejemons, we
believe that there are reasons why they choose to act that way. Pressure and
trend can influence people to be jejemons. After the activity, we realized that
people should not judge jejemoms because they are still part of the
society. People judge jejemons based on jejemons
they dress. However, we don't really find anything wrong with how they dress
because it is a way for them to express their feelings freely. Also, people
tend to Criticize the way they text other people. We know that it is difficult
to stop this discrimination but we must also understand why they text that way.
As part of the society, we must also consider the possible reasons why they
prefer texting in a jejemon way (examples include Ellohz pohz, dito na mehz,
etc) such as finding it easier for themselves to express their opinions in that
manner and they choose to go with the trend.
In the end, acting like jejemons was fun. We considered the activity
as a challenge and as an opportunity for us to experience being someone who we
are not. We felt that it was the right time for us to deviate from the norms be
trying to portray the role of a group of people whom people consider
"others". Others" in the sense that they don't look or act the
way majority of the people in the society do. Lastly, we learned more about how
jejemons live and the facts that triggered them to be jejemons.
Videos:
Other sources:
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/122723/investigativedocumentaries/jejemon-and-the-filipino-language
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEZukc6p1Cw
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