Hey, Fil-Ams: Please be better. (Review: Jo Koy In His Elements)

Because I watched Netflix’s latest special, Jo Koy: In His Elements

I get it. We all dream of home – that romanticized version of the home and the journey of homecoming, of going back to the “motherland” of being “one with the people” of being “back where it all began” of being “omg everyone looks like me…I’m home!”

Really I get it. That was my life. I was born in Manila, left when I was five, moved back when I was 18 and returned to ~the motherland~ with this aura of “omg I’m a third-culture kid excited to be home and yet yearning for my other home omg what even is home omg tagalog is so hard omg I can’t I have an accent help omg.” I was so into that mood that I made it my undergraduate thesis and continued that whole “diasporic literature omg let’s talk about home” all through graduate school (and this disconnect I now feel with that is probably why I will never finish my book because I am so over it (or at least my initial treatment of it)…but that’s a story for another time). But that’s how much I get it.

But this isn’t about me. This is about Jo Koy’s new Netflix special, Jo Koy: In His Elements. 

55 minutes of tone-deaf, cultural imperialism. 

And no, I am not a Jo Koy hater. I am not exhibiting signs of Filipino “crab mentality.” I’ve watched Jo Koy’s specials on Netflix and honestly think he’s a funny guy. His comedic strength is rooted in his childhood stories and his on-point Filipino-mom/tita accent (but maybe that’s all he’s good at?). That’s why I even watched this special in the first place, I was genuinely interested in seeing him rock the stage in the ~the motherland~ and seeing a different side to his comedy. I expected too much.

For the first time ever, comedian Jo Koy takes Netflix to the Philippines in his new special, Jo Koy: In His Elements, launching June 12. Koy celebrates his ...

Where do I even begin?

This is Jo Koy’s intent and ~creative vision~ for this special:

“I brought Netflix to The Philippines…We’re going to showcase Filipino culture to the world!...That’s what we’re going to do! We’re representing the Philippines to the world!...Every element of this show is Filipino!”

And then he goes crazy that everything and everyone in the theatre is Filipino. The building is owned by the Filipino. The crowd is Filipino. Even the cameraman is Filipino!!!!! 

You know, I get it though. No hate. If you’ve grown up seeing non-Filipino faces all your life, seeing a room full of Filipinos is amazing. You’re like “wow everyone looks like me!” I’ve felt that before. Did I scream it to everyone I saw? Did I twirl around and was all “omg Filipinosssss” Nope. 

There’s a fine line between “embracing the homecoming” and “fetishizing the homecoming.” There’s a difference when you say “I’m so happy to be in the Philippines!” and “Omg look at all the Filipinos!” 

Because umm Jo Koy, you’re in the Philippines. That’s not surprising to anyone in the audience that everyone around you is Filipino. The Filipinos back home aren’t to be gawked at as if we’re back on display at the world fair in St Louis. Please take a minute to adjust your perspective and stop perpetuating neocolonialism upon your own people.

The “comfortable” Manila.

In the show, Manila is so clean, traffic free, and the air almost looks fresh! Like has the city morphed into a great big BGC?

I’m not saying the show needed to be filmed against a backdrop of slums and poverty – I’m saying Manila should have been filmed and experienced as it is. A big imposing city with a huge economic divide, where the government doesn’t give a damn about its people (#JunkTerrorBill #MassTestingNow), and the traffic is a mess.

In that scene where Jo Koy’s Fil-Am friends wait at the airport for a juiced up Jeepney, all I could think of was “wow, I’ve never seen the airport look so bare! Is this even real?” And then Jo Koy and his Fil-Am friends proceed to be driven in this jeep to go eat a classic Filipino street breakfast and throughout the whole scene, not a local in sight. Erased.

Clearly his production shut down traffic and streets, essentially creating a barrier between him and the locals. Case in point: this tweet.

Neocolonializing the home.

There’s this thing that has always irked me about certain Fil-Am homecomings and I don’t think I was able to really understand why until I watched Jo Koy and his Fil-Am friends. In this special he shares the stage with Fil-Am comedians, DJs and hip-hop dancers, because you know, he had to showcase other Fil-Am talents instead of I don’t know, actually sharing the stage with local Filipino talents. But let’s go with Fil-Ams because everyone ~loves~ a foreign talent. But I digress. 

Here’s the thing that irks me: why do some Fil-Ams impose themselves upon the locals? Do they think they’re better than everyone else just because they were born/raised anywhere but the Philippines? Why do they spend their homecoming to the ~motherland~ telling us what to do instead of participating in conversation? They’re the ones who claim to know nothing about the Philippines and are so excited to come home and discover their motherland and be one with their people…so why aren’t they taking the time to be a student of the land, to actually learn from the locals and better understand what it means to say “I’m Filipino.” Not just PI/Fil-Am pride. Real Filipino pride. To look someone in the eye and say “I know the Philippines is fucking messed up but I will fight for this country and the people in the country” instead of “I love chicken adobo, lumpia, and ube.”

(Not all! Some! A certain breed of Fil-Ams! Again, not all! Don’t get defensive, jeezuschrist.)

Case in point: the whole b-boy tenements scene of Ronnie. The way it was filmed, edited, and framed for the audience fell flat. You have Ronnie teaching local b-boys and then you have Jo Koy who barely converses with a b-boy who’s trying to share a story with him, about living in a jeepney in Parañaque and teaching kids to improve their lives and stay away from drugs. That’s a story we needed to dive deep into, Netflix! We needed Jo Koy to look at the b-boy and converse with him instead of that weird “ah” “okay” “yea that’s amazing man,” said in the most bored voice ever.

The show is supposed to be all about the Filipino; but in that scene, Jo Koy showed that the Filipinos aren’t the focus of the show. The focus is him and his Fil-Am friends; and the local Filipinos are their props, their foil to reflect greatness upon themselves.

Now let’s chat about that problematic comic Andrew Lopez.

This deserves its own section. Guest comic Andrew Lopez deserves this shout-out. Here’s a section from his routine.

“I’m taking in all the culture and I want to see the ladies and I want to connect with you and that’s why I turned my tinder on right when I got in this bitch. Yea it’s on a 500 foot radius. So all the thotties in here, let’s match up, let’s link up. I have a passport, I’ll take you back to America, let’s go. I’ll hold you, bathe you, marry you, kiss your butt, and your mouth. Tonight. Let’s do it. I’m in.

I love tinder. Don’t pretend you’re not on tinder. I watched the girls walk in in here, the girls with the fake eyebrows, you’re the ones on tinder. I know. And don’t worry, I swipe right on everyone by the way. So all of you girls, let’s go! Tonight, I swipe right on every single picture. I never swipe left. Because all I’m looking for is love. I don’t even look at the picture anymore, I do it in my pockets, like this,  I walk around all day swiping right, I don’t even know who’s going to be in my hotel room tonight. Let’s go. I love tinder so much that it changed everything about me. I wish I was gay so I can suck dick and get more matches, do you understand? I love tinder so much, man. Tinder is the most positive thing in my life. I’m wearing a condom right now, it’s a magnum too, I don’t fit but it makes me feel black and that’s how I get more matches.”

Andrew Lopez

This bit is problematic in so many levels. And I don’t need to tell you why.

Unlearn Cultural Imperialism

Cultural Imperialism is learned and Filipinos learned it from none other than our white Colonizers, and in this post-colonial world, we’re perpetuating neocolonial violence upon our own blood. It might not be a conscious thing and many might not even realize they’re continuing the cycle in the way they interact with the country as “tagalog/English speaking, university-educated, middle-class, city-folks who could be Fil-Am or could be not” (locals in the Philippines are equally guilty of this!) But it happens and it should be unlearned, dismantled.

One of the facets of Cultural Imperialism that I find remarkably annoying and patronizing is when the “colonizing character” assumes and generalizes that “the other” simply doesn’t know things because “the other” isn’t from where he/she is from – a place deemed “better.”

Case in point: this moment on stage.

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Okay, California-boy, Andrew Orolfo. If you really tried to get to know your ~homeland~ you’d know that the Philippines is in the Pacific Ring of Fire and gets a lot of earthquakes. Why are you talking down to the audience?

Being a strong comic is about reading the room and having a strong understanding of the audience, of looking at our repertoire of jokes and adjusting it accordingly to your audience. You know what, It doesn’t just apply to comics, it’s basic communications 101.

The Filipinos were “other-ed” when we were colonized; and now these Fil-Ams are other-ing us. Wonderful.  

Benefit of the doubt? Maybe not.

Maybe Jo Koy did film a bunch of amazing scenes and him and his Fil-Am buddies did have a huge awakening and connection and great conversations and everything I just wrote here isn’t true and the show only appeared this way because of the way it was edited.

Well, editing is an art in and of itself. Scenes can be filmed in a million ways; but how it’s edited and pieced together is how a story is created. How they’ve edited this and the fact that this is the version that is streaming on Netflix shows that this is the story they wanted to tell, one that uplifted the Fil-Ams as superior in this weird talent show.

So when I say “Hey, Fil-Ams: Please be better,” I mean it well, no malice. Fil-Ams carry a certain power granted to them by the colonizers (white America) just because they live in the US and they’re afforded the US standard of “living the American dream, be all you can be, and take hold of all the opportunities in this land of the free” (which is also problematic and very flawed – but again a whole other topic to tackle another day).

Looking back at the intent of the show and Jo Koy’s opening bit where he says “We’re going to showcase Filipino culture to the world! We’re representing the Philippines to the world!”…do you think he actually did that? I don’t think so. This tweet doesn't think so either.

A friend said it best when she said this in reaction to the show, rather harsh but true.

“If they had framed it in a "doofus Fil-Ams who can’t pronounce lumpia and get special treatment in a fantasy Philippines while playing half-white heroes"…sure, mission accomplished. But that does not equal to showcasing Filipino.” 

Jo Koy and his Fil-Am crew should have approached the concept of the show in a more deliberate manner and seen that because of where they are in this world and the opportunities they have been given (they brought Netflix to the Philippines!), they have a huge responsibility to help to push Filipino representation forward and to do it right, to ensure proper representation and not this shallow fetishizing of the ~motherland~.

Because fuck. The Philippines is amazing.

 

If you’ve made it this far…please rage about these.