Readings in Philippine History-Analysis on the Political Caricatures of Alfred MacCoy-Prof. Antone

Summary

In this insightful vlog, Sir June delves into political cartoons from the American era in the Philippines, offering a critical analysis of their symbolic representations of the socio-political climate. The cartoons, sourced from Alfred McCoy, highlight issues like political dynasties, economic disparity, cultural shifts, and the impact of American influence on Filipino society. The discussion serves as a reflection on the historical truths and the enduring legacy of American occupation on Filipino politics and culture.

Takeaways

• 📜 The video discusses political cartoons as a form of artistic expression that reflects the socio-political situation in the Philippines during the American era.
• 👑 The first cartoon symbolizes the transfer of sovereignty from Spain to the United States, highlighting the Treaty of Paris and the perceived loss of Filipino autonomy.
• 👮‍♂️ The second cartoon critiques the Manila police's focus on minor crimes while ignoring the larger issues of economic inequality and the influence of capitalism.
• 🚗 The third cartoon comments on the introduction of automobiles and the lack of proper regulations, reflecting the rapid changes and challenges brought by modernization.
• 🎬 The fourth cartoon satirizes the cultural shift from Spanish conservatism to American liberalism, particularly in attitudes towards public displays of affection.
• 🏆 The fifth cartoon depicts Uncle Sam being pulled by Filipino students, illustrating the subjugation of the Filipino people under American influence.
• 🍲 The last cartoon shows Uncle Sam feeding politicians, indicating the patronage and favoritism prevalent in the political landscape of the time.
• 🤝 The video suggests that the early Filipino political parties were not truly democratic, but rather composed of elites seeking power and favor from the United States.
• 🔄 The discussion points out the continuous cycle of political dynasties and the gap between the rich and the poor, issues that persist in contemporary Philippine society.
• 🤔 The video raises questions about the nature of progress and whether the current society can be considered truly progressive, given the ongoing socio-economic disparities.
• 🌐 The analysis of political cartoons serves as a historical reflection, inviting viewers to consider the impact of American occupation on Filipino culture, politics, and society.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is the analysis of political cartoons during the American occupation of the Philippines, as discussed by Alfred McCoy.

Who is the speaker in the video script?

The speaker in the video script is Sir June, a philosophy and social science mentor.

What do the political cartoons symbolize according to the script?

The political cartoons symbolize the American occupation of the Philippines, the truth of the situation of Filipinos, and the political and social situation during the American era.

What does the first political cartoon analyzed in the script represent?

The first political cartoon represents the sovereignty of the Philippines being passed from Spanish to American control, as well as the issue of political dynasties in the country.

What is the significance of the second political cartoon in the script?

The second political cartoon highlights the inequality between the rich and the poor during the American occupation, and the favoritism shown by authorities towards the wealthy.

What is the main message of the third political cartoon discussed in the script?

The third political cartoon symbolizes the introduction of new transportation systems like automobiles by the Americans, and the lack of proper rules and laws to govern them.

What cultural shift is depicted in the fourth political cartoon?

The fourth political cartoon depicts the cultural shift from Spanish conservatism to American liberalism, particularly in terms of sexual liberation and public displays of affection.

What does the fifth political cartoon represent in terms of American influence?

The fifth political cartoon represents the control and subjugation of Filipinos by the Americans, using seemingly harmless means to brainwash and colonize.

What does the last political cartoon in the script comment on?

The last political cartoon comments on the patronage of the United States being coveted by politicians from different parties, reflecting the division and competition in the political landscape during the American occupation.

What is the overall message Alfred McCoy's analysis of the political cartoons conveys?

The overall message is that the political cartoons speak to the truth of the conditions of Filipinos during the American occupation, including the introduction of capitalism, the gap between the rich and the poor, and the influence of American democratic styles on the Philippine government.

How does the script suggest the political cartoons can be used to understand history?

The script suggests that political cartoons can be used to understand history by providing symbolic presentations of the social, political, and economic realities of the time, offering commentary on the events and conditions of the era.

Outlines

00:00

📜 Political Caricatures of the American Era in the Philippines

The video script discusses political cartoons from the American era in the Philippines, highlighting their role as a form of artistic expression and social commentary. The first cartoon, published in 1916, critiques the political dynasty and the symbolic transfer of sovereignty from Spain to the United States through the Treaty of Paris. It emphasizes the lack of Filipino representation during this pivotal moment in history. The analysis delves into the irony of Filipinos being 'sold' for 20 million U.S. dollars, reflecting on the historical truth and the sentiment of the time.

05:02

👮‍♂️ Inequality and Favoritism in the American-Occupied Philippines

The second paragraph focuses on a 1917 political caricature by Fernando Amorsolo, which serves as a commentary on the Manila police and the social inequality prevalent during the American occupation. It depicts a poor child being pursued for stealing a chicken, while a wealthy man, labeled 'Juan de la Cruz,' points to large warehouses, suggesting that the authorities should focus on bigger crimes rather than minor thefts. This caricature reflects on the growing divide between the rich and the poor, the onset of capitalism, and the favoritism shown by authorities towards the wealthy.

10:04

🚗 The Impact of Modern Transportation on Philippine Society

The third paragraph examines a political caricature commenting on the introduction of automobiles in the Philippines by the Americans. It symbolizes the rapid changes in society and the challenges of industrialization, such as the lack of proper rules and regulations for new transportation systems. The paragraph also touches on the cultural shifts that came with modernization, including the tension between traditional values and the new liberal influences introduced by American culture.

15:05

🎭 The Contradictory Cultural Impact of American Colonization

The fourth paragraph analyzes a political caricature that contrasts the conservative Spanish influence with the liberal American influence on Filipino culture. It describes a cinema scene where a police officer is enforcing a ban on public displays of affection, reflecting the cultural conservatism taught by the Spanish. In contrast, the American influence is seen as promoting liberation, particularly in matters of sexuality, which is a significant departure from traditional Filipino values.

🤴 The Subjugation and Patronage of American Colonizers

The final paragraph discusses two political caricatures that depict the subjugation of Filipinos by the Americans. One shows Uncle Sam being pulled by Filipino students, symbolizing the control and brainwashing of the Filipino people through seemingly harmless means. The other caricature from 1907 shows Uncle Sam distributing patronage to politicians, illustrating the political favoritism and the superficial understanding of democracy by the early Filipino political parties. These cartoons underscore the complex dynamics of power, politics, and cultural influence during the American occupation.

Keywords

💡Political Caricatures

Political caricatures are artistic representations that exaggerate or simplify the features of politicians or political situations, often to make a satirical or critical point. In the video, these caricatures are used to critique the American occupation of the Philippines, highlighting issues such as political dynasty, corruption, and social inequality.

💡American Occupation

The American occupation refers to the period in Philippine history when the United States took control of the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. The video discusses how this period influenced Filipino society, politics, and culture, often through the lens of political caricatures that reveal the complexities and challenges of this era.

💡Political Dynasty

A political dynasty occurs when political power is passed down within a family, often leading to a concentration of power and a lack of democratic representation. The video highlights this issue by showing a political caricature where a politician passes a crown (symbolizing power) to a relative, reflecting the prevalence of political dynasties during the American era in the Philippines.

💡Sovereignty

Sovereignty refers to the authority of a state to govern itself without external interference. In the video, the loss of Philippine sovereignty is symbolized by a crown being passed between politicians, representing the transfer of control from Spain to the United States following the Treaty of Paris, and the subsequent influence of the U.S. over the Philippines.

💡Treaty of Paris

The Treaty of Paris (1898) ended the Spanish-American War and resulted in Spain ceding the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. The video references this treaty as a pivotal moment where the Philippines' sovereignty was transferred to a new colonial power, with political caricatures highlighting the implications of this transfer on Filipino society.

💡Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system where private individuals or businesses own capital goods and the production of goods and services is based on supply and demand. The video discusses the introduction of capitalism during the American occupation, where the gap between the rich and the poor widened, as depicted in political caricatures showing the unequal distribution of wealth and resources.

💡Industrialization

Industrialization refers to the development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale. The video mentions how the American occupation brought about industrialization in the Philippines, introducing new transportation systems like automobiles. However, it also led to issues like unregulated traffic and safety concerns, which are critiqued in the political caricatures.

💡Liberalism vs. Conservatism

Liberalism and conservatism represent two contrasting political ideologies. Liberalism advocates for individual freedoms and progressive change, while conservatism emphasizes tradition and social stability. The video contrasts the conservative values instilled by the Spaniards with the more liberal attitudes introduced by the Americans, particularly in terms of social behaviors and public morality, as depicted in the caricatures.

💡Nationalism

Nationalism is a political ideology that emphasizes the interests and culture of a particular nation, often in opposition to foreign influence. The video touches on how Filipino nationalism was challenged by American control, with caricatures illustrating the tension between Filipino identity and the imposition of American values and systems.

💡Political Parties

Political parties are organized groups of people with similar political goals and opinions, aiming to influence public policy by getting their candidates elected. The video discusses the emergence of political parties during the American era in the Philippines, highlighting the competition and division between parties, as well as the manipulation of these parties by elite interests, which is critiqued through political caricatures.

Highlights

Introduction to the vlog discussing political caricatures from Alfred McCoy, reflecting the Philippine situation during the American era.

Political cartoons as symbolic representations of the American occupation in the Philippines.

Cartoons revealing the truth about Filipinos' situation and the nation's sovereignty during American occupation.

Humor in political cartoons as a form of media commentary on authorities and power dynamics.

The use of dadaism and symbolism in political cartoons to express opinions on political and social situations.

Analysis of the first cartoon from 1916, depicting political dynasty and sovereignty issues in the Philippines.

The Treaty of Paris and the sale of the Philippines to the U.S., symbolized in the first cartoon.

Political dynasty as a theme in the cartoons, reflecting the power dynamics within Filipino families and government.

Second cartoon from 1917 by Fernando Amorsolo, commenting on social inequality and the impact of capitalism.

Discussion on the gap between the rich and the poor during the American era and its continuation in modern society.

The third cartoon addressing the introduction of automobiles and the lack of traffic rules in the Philippines.

Fourth cartoon illustrating cultural shifts and the influence of American liberalism on Filipino society.

Fifth cartoon showing Uncle Sam and the subjugation of Filipinos through American influence and education.

Final cartoon from 1907 depicting the patronage of the U.S. and the coveting of political power by Filipino politicians.

Analysis of the political cartoons as a reflection of the conditions of Filipinos, the gap between rich and poor, and the state of politics during American occupation.

Conclusion summarizing the impact of political caricatures on understanding the historical and social realities of the Philippines under American rule.

Transcripts

hi guys good morning magandang umaga

buenas dias natodo

welcome back to our channel and welcome

back to our

discussions in readings in the

philippine history this is me again sir

june

your philosophy and social science

mentor so for today's vlog we are going

to

talk about or we are going to analyze

some

political cricket tours coming from

alfred mccoy

these political caricatures will speak

and will tell us something about

the situation of the philippines and the

filipinos

during the time of the american era so

if you're excited to know

keep on watching this video until the

end

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

so this particular political cartoons

would speak something about the american

occupation here in the philippines

during the time of

the american era and uh

these are forms of arts we know that

cartoons are forms of art expressions

but these arts are not just simply

arts now these are not just simply

expressionism

but these are symbolic no

symbolic presentations of

the american occupation to the

philippines so these

cartoons speak something about the truth

of the situation of the filipinos

and of course the philippine nation

during the time of the american

occupation

some of these political cartoons

are actually somehow funny to look at

funny to see

but these are forms of media

now these are forms of commentary

about the historians about this

particular people

no targeting the authority and those who

were in power during the american

occupation through the use of

dadaism and symbolism the authors of

these political cartoons

actually manifested their opinion

about the political and social situation

of the philippines during the time of

america and iraq

so my own titinating cartoons

and i will try to explain the meaning of

the cartoons and at the same time

we'll try to make our analysis about

these political cartoons

so let's start number one

the first cartoon was published in the

independent on may 20 1916

the cartoon shows a politician from

tondo named

dr santos passing his crown to his

brother-in-law

dr barcelona a filipino guy as depicted

wearing salacott and baron tagalog

was trying to stop santos telling the

latter

to stop giving barcelona the crown

because it is not his

to begin with to analyze

the first political cricketer

this actually speaks about the politics

the crown represents the philippines

the crown symbolizes the sovereignty

that the filipinos should have toronto

the treaty of paris there are so

the philippines was sold by the

spaniards to the americans

in the amount of 20 million u.s dollars

so we know that the filipinos

especially the government of emilio

aguinaldo try to

express their opinion try to oppose

these things to happen but

[Music]

i say there were no filipinos during the

treaty of paris

representatives philippines

the crowd the sovereignty was really

given to the others

[Music]

so the political caricature actually

speaks something about this particular

truth that happened in history

foreign

and we know what happened after the

occupation of the spaniards

for 333 years here comes the america

so the americas turn a month and this is

now

the beginning they have the crown they

have already the philippines

the first cartoon also reveals something

about the truth of

political dynasty

[Music]

young idea nothing political dynasty

which was rampant

during these times also it speaks of

the the sovereignty the crowd

the government the power is given to

those

relatives now that is the definition of

political dynasty

[Music]

and this was also happening in the type

of political system

that we had during the time of the

american occupation

the second political caricature was

published

by the independent on on june 16 1917

this was drawn by fernando amorsolo

and was aimed as a commentary to the

workings of manila police

at that period here we see a filipino

child

who stole a skinny chicken because he

had nothing to eat

the police officer was relentlessly

pursuing the sad child

a man wearing a salad coat labeled juan

de la cruz

was grabbing the officer telling him to

leave the small

time pick pockets and thieves and turn

at the great feets instead he was

pointing to huge

warehouses containing bulks of rice

milk and grocery products

now we have to understand in history

that the american occupation in the

philippines was also the beginning

of modernization it was also the

beginning of

industrialization in the philippine

country

that is why maybe karl marx was right

that this was also the beginning

of capitalism this was also the

beginning in which

in some democratic countries the

capitalists

the upper class the rich people were

controlling

the economy they were controlling the

natural

and economic resources of a particular

country

and this is what happens

[Music]

it speaks of the inequality it speaks of

the god

between the rich and the poor and this

was real happenings

in the philippine setting during the

american era

is there still a gap between the rich

and the poor

right now in our society

this political caricature reminds us of

this sad reality

the continuous gap between the rich

and disabled that

with the progress of industrialization

with the coming of

capitalism in our society

[Music]

the rich are getting richer and what is

sad is that only few

are getting richer well many

of the poor are getting poorer

so this is now my question to everyone

are we really in progress can we really

call

this present society us in progress

another sad reality that we can actually

learn from this

second ligature is the favoritism

done by some of the government officials

or in

those persons who are in authority in

which

[Music]

this is actually the reality that you

know

so this is one of our political and

economic problem

in the society and i hope that

we can change this issue we can change

this problem we can turn this problem

into something good

the third cartoon was a commentary on

the unprecedented cases of color room

automobiles in the city streets

the philippine free press published this

commentary

when fatal accidents involving colorado

vehicles and taxis occurred

too often already

so basically the third caricature

symbolizes

the presence of the automobiles now with

the coming of

the new transportation system these are

brought by the americans the filipinos

it was the americans who introduced the

new transportation

such as the automobiles and other new

transportation systems

that we had in the philippines so i

think this is a good sign

that we can think americans

however with the rapidly changing

society with the rapid

organization with rapid

industrialization

that happens in the philippines during

those times

[Music]

rules and laws when it comes to the

automobiles

[Music]

the third political caricatures uh

tells us now the fourth cartoon

shows a cinema a blown up police officer

was at the screen saying that the

couples are not allowed

to neck and make love in the theater

two youngsters look horrified

while an older couple seemed amused

to analyze this fourth political

criticism

the spaniards we have to understand the

spaniards has taught us

however when the americans came

the americans taught the filipinos to

become liberated

so this is actually the the idea on this

for

fourth political caricature the the

americans has taught

the filipinos to become liberated when

it comes to sex

some

[Music]

so definitely this speaks of

two contradicting cultures the cultural

conservatism and the culture of

liberalism

[Music]

[Music]

kissing in public places so this was the

culture that we learned from the

spaniards

not from our faith in christianity

however when the americans came

also

[Music]

there are some filipinos right now who

are very liberated

some of the philippines are trying to

become like americans already

so the feast cartoon

was also published in the independent on

november 27

1915 in this political caricature

[Music]

uncle sam riding a chariot

was pulled by filipinos wearing school

uniforms

so nothing that the filipino boys were

carrying

american objects like baseball bats

whiskey and boxing gloves so according

to alfred mccoy

he says that in this cartoon it was

based on an event in 1907

when william power taft was brought to

the manila pier

riding a chariot pulled by students of

lisayo de manila

and this event was condemned by the

nationalists at that time

so to analyze this political caricature

it actually means that the americans

were controlling

or subjugating the filipinos

this was how the americas controlled us

pano by brainwashing the filipinos

using harmless harmless

mentality using heart seemingly harmless

na

colonization

sweet words but behind the sweet words

were actually the

dark motives so this was how

the americans actually subjugated us

now let's go to the last cartoon

so the last cartoon was published by

lipancalabao

on august 24 1907.

in this cartoon we can see uncle sam

russian named porridge to the

politicians

and members of the progressista party

sometimes known as the federalist party

while members of the nationalist party

look on and wait for their turn this

cartoon

shows the patronage of the united states

being coveted by politicians from either

of the party so analyzing this

particular caricature

it actually shows us an image of

what kind of society and politics we had

under the american occupation during

these times

that the early filipinos or these

filipinos during

this time did not really understand the

essence of democracy

so here comes the the establishments of

different parties

no national and the nationalist party

they said the federalist

party so nothing

competition between parties with the

emerging of the newly

uh parties or political parties which

were usually composed by the elite or

the rich people

so they do nothing in reality

politicians they will they will transfer

to a party that is powerful

compared to the others

so this is a reality in competition

between partition

division of our politics

this is not the real essence of

democracy but this isn't

[Music]

that division cannot bring

good to our society so this is a sad

reality that

even up to now is still happening in our

political system so to sum

up our discussion on the analysis about

the political caricatures

done by alfred mccoy during the american

era

we can therefore say that these

political cartoons actually

speak of the truth again

it speaks of the conditions of the

filipinos

the poor conditions of the filipinos

then with the coming of the capitalism

the coming of the gap between the rich

and the poor

it speaks also of what kind of politics

we had

it space of the government that we had

established and that we had also learned

from the americans with democratic

styles

so these are realities

that happen to the filipinos to the

philippine society

during the time of the american

occupation

and i hope that you have learned

something from our discussion

again this is certainly michael and he

will stay new to this

vlog