Off With Their Head: “John Denver Trending” and the fragility of an online reputation
The power of freely speaking one’s mind truly is a heavy burden to carry when done right.
Filipino independent cinema has taken an upturn since the release of ABS-CBN writer Arden Ron Condez’s film John Denver Trending in August 2019. Bagging the awards of Best Film, Best Actor, and Best Cinematography during the Cinemalaya Film Festival, this compelling film encapsulates the authenticity of provincial life intertwined with society’s need for the internet as it follows the turbulent story of a teenage farm boy turned criminal and viral internet sensation. Aside from the well-written screenplay and atmospheric cinematography, the message portrayed in this slow burn of a fiasco outweighs it all.
Within the first few minutes of the film, one will see a group of public high school students rehearsing a dance routine while streaming themselves on Facebook. Here, it is established that the community where the film takes place (Antique, Pandan) is closely connected with social media. Right after they finish rehearsing, John Denver Cabungcal — -played by newly introduced actor Jansen Magpusao — -returns to his classroom after being teased by other classmates to get his bags and go home, only to be chased by the same classmates, yelling obscenities and throwing accusations at him for a stolen iPad.
Filled with resentment, John’s anger blinds him as he lunges at his accuser, brutally attacking him. To make matters worse, one of his classmates pulls out his phone and records the entire fight. The video would eventually be posted on said classmate’s Facebook account, with a caption that encouraged others to never stop sharing until it reached “Digong,” or the president of the Philippines. The post came with its hateful comments, all ignorant of the actual story behind the video and pitted against John. Thus began the online witch hunt for the poor and unsuspecting young boy.
The gradual progression from the scene of the classmate posting the video online to the scene of John Denver discovering that he had become an infamous juvenile delinquent overnight can be compared to the experience of watching a spreading wildfire; each tongue of flame consuming every living thing in its path, leaving nothing but ashes. All that John could do to calm that wildfire is a single Facebook status update, reminding others not to judge a book by its cover, as the saying goes. This attempt to soften the hearts of unknowing social reformers resulted in being futile since the parents of the classmate he abused brought the issue up with the barangay chairman.
This section of the story was not as impactful as the last 10 minutes of the film, where John runs away from the police station with a grim reminder of his misgivings and a mortal intent. However, the unsubtle messaging about how quick information gets around on the internet and the brittle quality of an online reputation is something worth talking about. The rural environment that John Denver lives in can be considered as a microcosm, which may leave its members with a longing for affinity with their peers. It is human nature to feel a sense of community, an assurance that one is a part of something. Though in this case, this desire for such a feeling would not be used for inclusivity and open-mindedness, rather for the destructive want to villainize an individual.
The dangers of groupthink and ignorance are clearly seen in this community that values repentance over the truth. The minute his classmate uploaded the video that defined the last few months of his young life, he has already succumbed to the cruelty of digital exploiters whose sole purpose is to gain fleeting popularity and abuse the vulnerable. This is just one of the many ways one’s reputation can be completely ruined; one may say that opinionated users of social media are practically walking on eggshells each time they post on Facebook or Twitter. David Bowie once said that “the Internet carries the flag of being subversive and possibly rebellious and chaotic, nihilistic.” The story of John Denver Trending hosts a different perspective, however. Instead of showing a violent teenager attacking his pitiful classmate after stealing his iPad, the film showed a frightened young boy whose only ally and hope for salvaging what was left of his honor is his mother.
This all goes to show just how powerful and destructive irresponsible speech can be. Despite following simple internet etiquette, others choose to abuse this freedom at the expense of others and for their selfish desires. One may say that “great power holds great responsibility,” as corny as sounds, and the power of freely speaking one’s mind truly is a heavy burden to carry when done right. John Denver Trending indeed is this generation’s major wake-up call for the deep-rooted issues of our society today; now it is up to us to make sure things do not get out of hand from here on out, whether or not it be a substandard viral video.
Samantha Martija is a 16-year old Senior High School student from the Philippines, and a curator for the Of The People publication. If you’d like to have your work featured in our platform (whether visual or text), you may send in a submission to our email here.
