Entertainment news is concerned not only with celebrities, but also with the ordinary people who support them, a Thomasian entertainment writer said during a lecture titled “Entertainment Writing in the Philippines in the Advent of Social Media” at the Miguel de Benavides Library auditorium last Oct. 17.
Julianito “Boy” Villasanta, an Arts and Letters alumnus and author of “Exposé: Peryodismong Pampelikula sa Pilipinas,” said entertainment news writers must treat “every piece [as] a challenge” by giving deeper analysis and proper contextualization.
“Laging nandoon ‘yung sociopolitical context mixed in my write-ups. Makikita doon kung [gaano kalaki ang parte ng] society sa process ng movie writing [and] entertainment writing,” Villasanta said.
UST Publishing House (USTPH) Director Ailil Alvarez emphasized the need for more works like “Exposé,” which took an academic approach to entertainment writing.
“Works such as [“Exposé”] are ultimately testaments to the continued relevance and pervasiveness of pop culture in our lives. It is very clearly an attempt to elevate discussions on popular culture to the level of academic discourse,” Alvarez said.
“Exposé” is a sociopolitical study on the history of movie journalism in the country, published by USTPH in 2007.
Other speakers in the lecture were Danny Vibas, Pilar Mateo and Art Tapalla.
The forum “Entertainment Writing in the Philippines in the Advent of Social Media” was organized by the USTPH. with reports from Jiselle Casucian
