The implicit religion that is #AlDub

Jayeel Cornelio

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But any religion that does not compel us to question the fundamental issues of social life – maleducation, maldevelopment, corruption – is in Marx's terms, an opium of the people

Gerry Lanuza, a sociologist at UP Diliman, recently claimed that the whole AlDub phenomenon can be likened to religion. Many netizens felt offended and in response, questioned the  integrity and academic merit of Professor Lanuza.  

I think many online bashers simply did not understand Lanuza’s point. Aldub is an implicit religion insofar as out of it has emerged unprecedented fandom, community, and even commercial support.  

To state the obvious, Aldub is not a religion in its substantive sense. Inasmuch as she is Kalyeserye’s moral center, it would be strange to imagine Lola Nidora as its high priestess, for example.  

But functionally, Aldub behaves like religion.  

The function of religion in the social life of many Filipinos lies in bringing us together and leaving us with an awe-inspiring feeling that we are one and called for a purpose.  

Sociologically speaking, the euphoria one feels in gatherings around Brother Mike Velarde or Pope Francis are not fundamentally different from those around Pacquiao and yes, Alden and Yayadub.  Such communal euphoria is referred to in sociology as collective effervescence.        

Consider this point too: That Aldub happened almost spontaneously is a resonant imprint of many other religions. World religions like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism, before they became organized institutions, were spontaneous movements or communal gatherings around specific persons.  

But to me there is a bigger issue here – that Sa Tamang Panahon took place at the Philippine Arena. I admire Eat Bulaga for taking the risk in holding it here. But let me bet that even Tito, Vic, and Joey were not surprised that they filled the biggest indoor stadium in the world. Eat Bulaga, after all, is timeless.    

When Iglesia ni Cristo celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014, I wrote that its Philippine Arena was a powerful declaration that it has arrived on the world stage. It is no longer a religion in the Philippines. It is a religion in the world. INC’s Philippine Arena is an unmistakable statement of its attempt at religious worlding.

Photo by Alecs Ongcal/Rappler    

But Eat Bulaga’s event last Saturday has effectively sealed the Philippine Arena as a statement of national and global significance. Before this event, the place was used primarily by INC for its special events. Most recent was for the premier of the movie Felix Manalo and the Dakilang Pamamahayag of Ka Eduardo Manalo.      

Sa Tamang Panahon has brought us together at the right time in the most symbolic of places – the country’s biggest arena named after the nation itself. So is its symbolism still a monopoly of INC? Perhaps not anymore.     

Opium?

But there is an irony here.

To be sure, last Saturday’s event will be in our collective memory for a long while. At the Philippine Arena, glamor, emotionalism, and other so-called Filipino values were brought together. And making the event doubly admirable is that Eat Bulaga is donating all proceeds to the construction of school libraries around the country.  

It demonstrates the power of implicit religion to pool our resources for public good.  

Such a shame though, if one thinks about it, that we need celebrities to make basic welfare possible in our country. This is a matter many of us take for granted. We take it for granted that entertainment performed in the most glamorous manner is our redemption. Politics in this country, after all, is entertainment.    

Yes, Aldub is an implicit religion that brings us together.

But any religion that does not compel us to question the fundamental issues of social life – maleducation, maldevelopment, corruption – is in Marx’s terms, an opium of the people. We might be simply hallucinating. – Rappler.com

 

Jayeel Serrano Cornelio, PhD, like many Filipinos, is an AlDub fan.  He is a member of the Board of the Philippine Sociological Society and the Director of the Development Studies Program at the Ateneo de Manila University.  He is the author (with Dr Manuel Sapitula and Dr Mark Calano) of a forthcoming textbook on world religions published by Rex.  Follow him on Twitter @jayeel_cornelio.   

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