Why You Still Don’t Get AlDub
I got into the AlDub bandwagon late. If I remember correctly, the last week of September.
(For the uninitiated, information on AlDub can be found here, here, here, here, and here.)
Pictures of sari-sari stores closing their doors (or windows, to be more precise) to neighbors and buyers whenever Eat Bulaga aired at noontime littered my Facebook feed and amused me to no end, at the same time, made me wonder:
“What the heck is AlDub?”
I remember somebody briefly explaining it to me. But that was it.
The real catalyst had been my husband.
Several times in a day, I’d hear him laughing like somebody was tickling his ear with a feather. He either watched Eat Bulaga on TV when he was home for lunch or on YouTube via the replays uploaded by netizens.
Because I didn’t know any better, his constant sojourn at YouTube annoyed the living daylights out of me. Many times, I grumbled and said, “AlDub na naman. Puro na lang AlDub.” [AlDub again. It’s always about AlDub.] He never attempted to defend himself. He simply smiled his “pa-cute” smile, like he often did (probably the reason why we’re still together after 16 years).
For several days, that had been our routine at home — him watching AlDub, me complaining whenever he did.
The straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak, was when he left me waiting in line at a bank. He had chosen to watch kalyeserye at a nearby cellphone loading station instead of waiting with me. I was there to accompany him, for Pete’s sake! He was the one with a business to straighten out with the bank.
When we got home, I decided to investigate and found myself browsing YouTube. What was it exactly about AlDub that drew him to them like a moth to a flame? And then, I saw them — Maine and Alden during the July 16 episode of Eat Bulaga’s “Juan for All, All for Juan” segment — and I was hooked.
How to really get AlDub
Prior to that fateful day, although I chose not to be vocal about it, I branded those who were enamored by the show as shallow, my very own husband included. In a country beset by calamity after calamity, add in the societal ills that never seem to have any cure, no thanks to a government that has failed its people in many ways, I felt that tackling national issues on social media was a worthier cause.
But I’ve since fallen off my high horse. I realize that the first step to understanding the AlDub fever — or anything you don’t understand, for that matter — is ridding yourself of preconceptions. Otherwise, you only see what you want to see and will likely end up not really understanding.
Don’t get me wrong. I still stand by my belief that social media can be a catalyst for societal change. But that’s a story for another day.
There is something magical about the AlDub phenomenon that’s hard to ignore. Because I’ve been to both sides of the fence and back, I believe that those who don’t see that magic are those who are yet to experience it. Like most other self-proclaimed AlDub followers, I was never into loveteams. Duh, I’m a grown woman, with three children to boot. But there’s something about Maine and Alden that leaves you rooting for them.
Maybe it’s because they don’t fit the “manufactured” loveteams mold, that perhaps the “kilig” is for real, and that they seem to be nice young people even when off-cam.
Or maybe it’s the fact that the kalyeserye is notoriously hilarious and the improv acting is beyond brilliant.
The AlDub nation, the supporters of the duo, number by the millions, and when they choose to rally together, are a voice that reverberates across the four corners of the world.
Proof is their October 24 shattering of the most tweeted hashtag within 24 hours, that of the match between Brazil and Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup with 35.6 million tweets. #ALDubEBTamangPanahon pulled in a total of 41 million tweets, and the Philippine Arena, the world’s largest indoor stadium with a seating capacity of 55,000, was filled to the brim.
Who cares?
Fair question.
Who cares, indeed?
- One, marketers who will be discussing this phenomenon at length for a very long time.
- Two, politicians who want AlDub’s popularity to rub off on them.
- Three, people who think the attention bestowed upon AlDub to be excessive and an embarrassment to Filipinos around the world.
- Four, those who say AlDub further dumbs down the TV-viewing population.
- Five, those who see the AlDub craze as a social disease that needs to be snuffed out ASAP, lest it add to the country’s already mounting issues on poverty, unemployment, insurgency, income inequality, and blatant corruption by those in power.
- And six, those who believe in the power of a group of unrelated people unified by a common thread, which is their unabashed sense of happiness over something that’s seemingly shallow and insignificant.
But guess what, it’s the Filipinos’ shallowness that makes them resilient and hopeful of a brighter tomorrow despite the hardships of today.
I can’t make unbelievers believe, that much I know. Even if I do try, I probably can’t explain in concrete terms what this is all about, especially if you’re looking for an intellectual analysis.
But there’s one thing I’m certain of: You will only get AlDub once you’ve actually experienced it.
Until then, you can only marvel at its ability to transcend age groups, gender, occupation, and economic status — all while putting up with the side-splitting laughter of those who have come to fully embrace it.
