ARTICLE | Romanticizing Poverty in Mainstream Media

Romanticizing Poverty in Mainstream Media

Miss Universe Catriona Gray in her final Q&A described poverty in the Philippines as both poor and very sad. To an outsider, how does Philippines poverty register to them when they see clips of it in maintream media. We talked to Professor Sarah from the University of the Philippines, Diliman to know her take on the representation of poverty in mainstream media. In our discussion, she shares that media has a normative effect on the audience in terms of maintaining the status quo. Some other interesting points include the relational imagination and creation of spectacle which are discussed in detail in this article.