INTRODUCTION
Filipinos have constantly tuned in to the media in order to be entertained and be informed. Whether these come in the form of the newspaper, radio, television, film, or the internet, they provide a sense of connectivity to the community, the nation, and the world through the stories and information that they read, see, and hear. Moreover, what is seen and heard is not merely an account of what is happening or could possibly happen in the real world, they represent a reality of the world that not everyone but a select few can experience but thus holds a certain amount of general truth for everyone.
Although the communication and the media focus on various fields – education, information, entertainment, world affairs, advertising – this paper shall focus on the entertainment field, most in particular the use of the Love Tandem Formula in both television and films. A brief history of the formula shall be given, followed by the analysis of the audience regarding the use of the formula and how they represent reality regarding love and relationships. It hopes to discover how audiences perceive local love tandems and how they represent the reality of love and relationships. Given these, it hopes to understand how this particular formula continues to be appreciated and used to this day in spite of the various genres involved and utilized in filmmaking and even in television, and even the technology that has changed the way stories are told in the big and small screen.
A BRIEF HISTORY AND THE LOVE TANDEM FORMULA
The Philippine Entertainment Industry, most in particular film, bases its narrative and entertainment style from Hollywood. The stories move at a pace where the state of equilibrium in the story is complicated by a set of problems which the protagonists hope to solve by the end of the film. And quite similar to the rise and success of the film industry in the United States, the Philippine film industry flourished as well and became the “most popular form of entertainment” (Maslog, p. 72, 2007) until the coming of the television sets at home and, most recently, the internet. However, although the movies have declined in terms of output per year, the Filipinos are still entertained in a most similar manner with the television due to the drama series being aired almost every day or, as they are more popularly known locally, the telenovelas. And although convenience and the similarities in content on both media have put the movies in the backseat, corporations have thought of various ways for the viewing public to continually patronize them.
In spite of the closure and disappearance of the Big Four film companies (LVN, Sampaguita, Lebran and Premier) that emerged in the early years of Philippine cinema, moviemaking is now tied with the major television networks in the country, namely GMA and ABS-CBN. Their home talents are given projects not just to appear in the local television programs but also to be in a movie which shall be produced by an umbrella of the company that manages and produces films. And given the more than a century’s worth of presence of the cinema in the country, as actors, actresses, producers, and directors come and go, and the various stories that they produce, one particular formula constantly re-emerges every so often that the viewing public does not seem to grow tired of: the Love Tandem.
The Love Tandem Formula is where an actor and an actress would be paired to play a romantic role. Notable Hollywood tandems include Ginger Roberts-Fred Astaire, Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy, and Lauren Bacall-Humphrey Bogart. They all starred in films which the public watched and liked. Similarly, the public also liked the pairs. The genre that the tandem is constantly used in may vary among the drama, melodrama, romantic, comedy films, and even to a certain point, with the popularity and pairing of Bacall and Bogart, film noir. This particular formula was perhaps brought by the star system in Hollywood, where actors are not merely players in a movie but they have a certain “personae that come across to their fans which can be called as their personality” (Belton, pp. 97-98, 2005) even though the personality they project may somewhat be different from who they are in real life. Considering the images that stars have with their fans, if a well-known and celebrated actor and an actress would come together in a single film, producers then can have a broader reach of the market and viewership will consequently rise.
The Philippine film industry was also sensitive to the trends and came with their very own tandems such as: Carmen Rosales-Rogelio dela Rosa, Gloria Romero-Luis Gonzales, Nora Aunor-Tirso Cruz III, Sharon Cuneta-Gabby Concepcion, Rico Yan-Claudine Baretto, Kristine Hermosa-Jericho Rosales, Angel Locsin-Richard Gutierrez, and Bea Alonzo-John Lloyd Cruz. What is most interesting to note is that although the tandem originated from the film industry, it has crossed over to the television and is now being used and proven successful for both media.
AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF LOVE TANDEMS
To glean a better understanding of the love tandem, an interview was conducted in order get audience perception regarding the constant use of this formula. Three people were interviewed for this research, one male and two females. Their ages range from 23 to 35 years old; education-wise, they have achieved college level and they watch films or shows that use love tandems in the stories. For this part of the discussion, they were asked questions on what makes the love tandem both appealing and unappealing.
One important characteristic that the audience will watch the film of an actor is if he has a real talent for acting. And this rings true as well for the love tandem. It is a requirement that both of them should know how to act and not just merely project an idea of two people in love. Factors to consider also on what is appealing in the love tandem formula are the physical attributes and the chemistry that the actors have. It is validated by the interviewees that the local love tandems have a good-looking actor and a beautiful actress. This is one way of assuring a target market because a match of the characters’ physical attributes seems to be the stamp of approval not only for love tandems in the film industry but in the real setting as well. Furthermore, the actors and actresses, whether off-screen or on-screen, have a certain quality or personality that works well with the other that seems to come out naturally. This then provides the illusion of having a sincere love relationship rather than just merely acting out a relationship. In a way, it can also validate the effectiveness of their acting in terms of being a couple. These two qualities then are the packaging of the tandem and a way to catch the audience’s attention. Similarly, this is why the tandems become successful in terms of appeal – that the tandems come across as having a personality and chemistry that work with the audience’s perception of what represents a couple in real life.
Not to discount that there not is a bad side to the formula, it can be said that the love tandems tend to be unappealing because of the superficiality of the tandems. This pertains to the love tandems that the interviewees deem to be unsuccessful or that do not have the qualities of the successful love tandems that have chemistry. As mentioned in the interview, they would never go for a love tandem that wasn’t physically appealing for them. Furthermore, on the audience’s reception level, as much as they come across naturally in the film or the show as love tandems, their partnership and the way they act with each other seem to go beyond the realm of the entertainment industry that they are merely tandems in the story. This could become a problem and an illusion as well for some of the audience members and their fans seem to want the love tandem in the film to become a real love tandem. This can prove to be a disadvantage as there is a blurring of the dividing line between the real and reel world.
The interviewees also acknowledge that the tandems prove to be successful and continue to be used regardless of their repetitiveness but, as stated by one of them, the tandem formula is recycled because of the different tandems that emerge over the years and the growing target audience that also change every year but remain to be of the same age group: “fans of the Sharon-Gabby era are not the same fans of the Bea-John Lloyd era, but they become successful because of the constant availability of the market.” It can also be said that the relationship of a couple is an interesting topic as these are also experienced by any Filipino, whether one is an actor or not. Furthermore, going back to the Star system, the love tandem, proven that they are successful in terms of appeal, becomes a means of building and sustaining a fan base and these people will then support the films or shows that the tandem will star in. Again, the packaging of both actors becomes a means for viewership and survival in the entertainment industry.
AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF REALITY REGARDING LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Films and television shows, though they may primarily serve as a form of entertainment and a source of information, have a sense of what Metz would call iconicity because the film, and even the television, “is like a mirror” (p. 45, 1982). The mirror in this regard is not an actual mirror where the viewer sees himself in the situation; rather, both media represent or reflect an experience, an emotion, or a situation that may seem similar to the actual experience of a person or the viewer but it is not the exact, real experience as depicted in the story. In line with this then, an important question to ask about the implications of the love tandem formula is how they tend to influence the audiences’ perception of reality regarding love and relationships.
It is commonly known that the love tandems evoke a sense of what it is like to be in a relationship and how it is to be in love with someone. The interviewees have also validated this particular aspect of the love tandems in the previous discussion where they classified this as one of the very qualities of the formula that seems to either appeal or not to the viewing public.
Story-wise, the love tandem formula, and the situations that they are involved in the film or the television show, represent and reflect to a certain extent the various situations that are encountered or lived through in real life. Real people are also exposed to the “sweet nothings” and “courtship” that the guy does in order to win the affection of the girl. The “happy moments” that the characters experience in the film or program may be the same kind of happy moments that real couples go through. On a more complex note, the tandem in the story, as the narrative style influences the progress of the situation, encounter various problems that can affect their relationship: break-ups, miscommunication, petty quarrels, and the like. This is also evident in the real scenario for any regular couple. Whether the stories come from actual life or are written for purposes of story development, viewers still get to connect the problems or scenarios with the actual situations that happen to them or to other couples. One example of a problem that the love tandems encounter is when one of them cheats on their partner. Although the circumstances involved may differ for each relationship, cheating on a loved one is still a universal reality that can hurt the person whether the reasons for doing so are similar to those seen in the film or not.
One interviewee also acknowledged the role of the media in letting people know what love is and how relationships tend to work. As the media reflect the idea of love and relationships, viewers who do not have an idea or who have not yet experienced such feelings and emotions are thus, to a certain extent, educated on what it means to be loved and to love, and what it means to be in a relationship. This then perhaps also sets the standard on how one must treat the other in order for their relationship to be meaningful or successful. However, the act of loving and being in a relationship is also strengthened and validated by the couples that are seen in real life. As one of the interviewees said, the stories and the situations that the love tandem in the film go through are based on an experience or an idea that could happen in real life.
On a physical aspect, the images of both the actors as being good-looking and beautiful can also set standards for the average person in terms of looking at physical attributes. In a way, they do let people believe that this is the ideal girl and this is the ideal guy that one should be in a relationship with. Perhaps it may send unrealistic beliefs and standards, that both the handsome and the beautiful are the perfect match, yet the interviewees are quick to admit and acknowledge that physical attributes are not merely what constitute a relationship. They cite that real-life couples may not be the same as the love tandem; that one may not be as good-looking in the commercial and entertainment’s world definition, nor are they as physically fit as well.
On a more meaningful and deeper note, chemistry does play a role in not just on-screen love tandems but to real-life partners as well. Chemistry is defined in terms of how well the couple fits together with regard to their attitudes, their treatment of each other, and how comfortable they are together in order to have a more realistic repercussion when looking at how the love tandem represent the reality of love and relationships. Although the physical attributes of the person can initially get one interested in him or her, the real measure of the success of the relationship and the values lie in the way both people can relate to each other and whether they fit in their own standards of who is the right person for him or her.
It is also quite important and interesting to note that the actions that the love tandems do for each other can either be seen as something negative or positive. For one of the interviewees, she actually likes the very romantic gestures that the guy does for the girl, and admits that even though it is only on television or in the film, that particular romantic action can be done by guys in real life, but are merely, perhaps, just not inclined to do something as romantic as those seen on television or in the film; for another, the very romanticism that the guy and the girl exhibit may border on martyrdom and exaggeration and consequently comes across as not realistic by his own standards.
Perhaps a constant running theme in love tandems and the stories that they are in is that a lot of them encounter problems and they end in a very happy and positive manner. This, again, is perhaps due to the narrative style of storytelling for both film and television, where various circumstances or situations continually rise or are injected for the plot to move forward. What moves the story forward then are the issues that the characters are confronted with and how they are going to solve them. Given that there are problems that also occur in every relationship, real couples find ways on how to solve them as well. In this regard, they are now the stars of their very own story. However, events happen at a faster and immediate scale in the big and small screen. In real life, problems are not as easily solved as those in the story where there seems to be a natural course of action to be taken by the characters. This then somewhat provides an unrealistic look on love tandems where they seem to be invincible despite the many trials that they go through and they always end up together. In reality, not every couple that goes through problems emerge as victorious. Quite a number of real couples do tend to break up.
CONCLUSION
Love tandems prove to be a constant staple in the local entertainment industry. On a very commercial characteristic of the formula, it makes use of the physical attributes and the talents of an actor and an actress where they are packaged as a team in order to capture the audience’s attention and interest on a broader scale. However, apart from the purposes that they serve for the industry, they also represent a social reality regarding love and relationships and this is one of the qualities that appeal to the viewing public; it is a reality that hits close to their actual experiences and allows them to relate to the story on a more engaging manner. And although the formula continues to be recycled, given the constant use since the early years of the film industry in the country, it proves to be still successful because although the tandem formula is reused, the tandems do change as the years go by and there are viewers and followers who support the tandems that are being promoted.
Love tandems and the stories that are written for them represent the reality of being in love and having a relationship with the person that one loves. Although they provide concrete examples of what happens in a relationship, the situations that they are involved in are not the same for every person or, at the very least, for every couple. What the tandems provide then is a representation of the various situations that couples go through. The tandems also provide a standard for people on how to handle their relationships, in terms of how to treat their partner, how well they get along with each other and that the problems that they encounter need to be resolved one way or another. However, they can also set false standards in terms of the physical attributes of what a couple should have. Because both actors are good-looking, this perhaps may have an effect on a person’s choice for a partner – that he or she should be good-looking as well. Additionally, as most love tandem stories end in a positive manner, it can also set certain beliefs that there is always a happy ending for every couple.
However, in spite of the representation of the love tandem, and although the media can serve as a point of educating people what love is and how a relationship works, the real and social setting plays a bigger role in their personal relationships. Attitudes, experiences, and personalities are the real determinants of what one person looks for in a partner. One of the interviewees labelled the very romantic actions of the guy in the love tandem as merely a means of “fooling” the other person or, more popularly known in the local term “bolahan”. The concept of fooling here pertains to the guy trying to get the approval and the interest of the girl through romantic means. For her though, she does not like the idea of “courtship” where the guy shows his best side and not his negative side; she prefers that the person be real and upfront. Still, she admits that she appreciates the romantic factor on television because she is entertained.
Given these then, it can be easily seen how the Love Tandem Formula continues to thrive because of the compatibility and marriage of two factors: the representation of reality and the entertainment factor that is intertwined in a concept that a number of people can relate to.
FURTHER RESEARCH
This study has focused on love tandems and how the audience perceive the formula and how they represent the reality of love and relationships. It is still a relatively new topic in spite of the already long presence of the formula in the entertainment industry. With this then, there has been a limited source of references for the research. Although the study also touched on the history of Philippine Cinema, perhaps further studies can include whether the early love tandems differ from the current love tandems and if the themes are the same as today. Furthermore, since a small scale interview was conducted to three people to get audience perception, perhaps a survey or a focus-group discussion with more respondents can provide a more detailed understanding of the implications of the formula to the viewing public.
REFERENCES
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Maslog, C. (2007). Philippine Communication Today. QC: New Day Publishers
Metz, C. (1982). The Imaginary Signifier. IN: Indiana University Press.
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Ponech, T. (1997). Visual Perception and Motion Picture Spectatorship. Cinema Journal. 85-100. Vol. 37.
Torre, N. (2007 February 4). Viewfinder: Appeal of Love Teams Remains Strong to This Day. Philippine Daily Inquirer.