cultural criticism and humor

Dat's Entertainment is a variety/talent show about corporations, cultural appropriation, and colonialism. It is the result of a collaboration between Philippine born writer and performance artist Jessica Hagedorn and director Joel Katz. Based on the still common genre of sing-along talent contest popular in the Philippines, the show is fictitiously 'sponsored' by Coca-Cola, Inc., using clips from Pearl of the Orient, an industrial film produced by the soft drink manufacturer in 1953.

"The variety show," Hagedorn states, "is a large part of our culture and people are forever entering these contests ... that's an intrinsic part of the Philippine culture. It's always part of the people's fantasy that if they can win these contests they can go on the better their lives and get out of poverty. They will have the Philippino version of the American idols. I thought that that would be an appropriate and also entertaining way to show the colonization of our minds, yet have fun with it."

Dat's Entertainment was broadcast on PBS as part of The Learning Channel's "But Seriously, Folks" series in 1994.

(1992, 13 min.)