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Blog #3: Couple’s Culture Clash

Mallinalli and Cortes are not the couple that experience misunderstanding in terms of culture. Realistically speaking, whenever two people from two very contrasting cultures unite in love (or infatuation), it often does not end well. In the show How I Met Your Mother, one of the main characters Robin goes to Argentina to get over a breakup and meets a man who she falls in love with enough to bring him home. Robin, being your typical hardworking, independent, alpha female, is in a star-crossed lover type of relationship with the free-spirited, mellow, island boy Gael. He introduces her to “easy living” or the hippie lifestyle. So, naturally, when she brings him back to her apartment in New York, their two personalities begin to clash. Robin cannot find the satisfaction in hand-fed eating, spontaneous risque moments, and opening her home to strangers anymore, the same way she used to in Argentina. She no longer understands how she can cope up with the cultural differences and resorts to just breaking up with him. 

It is apparent that their relationship was based on lust and pleasurable living. Robin could not adjust her city lifestyle anymore to fit the needs of Gael. When Robin realized she was back in New York, in her real life, she decided it was time to stop living in this island-girl fantasy she had with Gael and go back to her old way of living. Yet, Gael, being the free-spirited island boy he is, was not fazed by it and returned to Argentina where he, too, could be the person he really is meant to be in the place where he is supposed to be it.

Here is the link to the episode. Proceed to episode 2: We’re Not From Here

TW: This is an adult-oriented TV show

https://123movies.is/film/how-i-met-your-mother-season-3-1680/watching.html

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Interviewed my best friend Erika Alcasid about what it’s like working overseas and how it feels to be away from the Philippines. Here are her answers.

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STILL SANE BY LORDE - a biographical criticism

Today is my birthday, and I'm riding high Hair is dripping, hiding that I'm terrified

{This song was written when Ella Yelich-O’Connor, better known as Lorde, had just turned sixteen. Here, she expresses her fear for growing up the same way she did in her song Ribs. Lorde is known for the volume of her hair and her love for swimming. Her wet hair makes it easy for her to cover her face, concealing any emotion that she is feeling.}

But this is summer, playing dumber than in fall Everything I say falls right back into everything {Lorde expresses her love for the summer time like she did in her song No Better (no link available) (which probably explains the dripping hair from swimming), but more importantly expresses how she likes to “play dumb” for people. Lorde is well-aware of how smart she is and how her thinking is not like that of a normal teenager. Yet, since it’s summertime and she’s probably out with her friends who do not think as complexly as her, she puts up the “dumb front” to be able to relate to them. She is very aware of what she’s doing and saying.} [Bridge 1] I'm not in the swing of things But what I really mean is Not in the swing of things yet {Being “in the swing of things” means being able to adjust and be completely familiar and comfortable with a situation. Yet, Lorde is “not in the swing of things”. This could refer to her growing up, or to her growing fame. Nevertheless, she believes she will eventually adjust to her situation.}

[Verse 2] Riding around on the bikes, we’re still sane

{Lorde expresses that in some way, she is still a child and she has no reason to go crazy yet}

I won’t be her, tripping over onstage

{Lorde asserts herself that she will not mess up her career, ignoring the risks that come with fame}

Hey, it’s all cool

{She reassures herself everything is fine}

I still like hotels, but I think that'll change Still like hotels, and my newfound fame

{Most artists or famous people, as time goes on, usually end up disliking their jobs because they do not have an actual home anymore, living off hotels. Lorde states that although she sees that happening to her eventually, she does not feel dislike yet. Similarly, she feels the same with her fame.}

Hey, promise I can stay good

{Famous people tend to change as they get more famous, but Lorde assures herself that she will always stay the same.}

(Everything feels right) I'm little, but I'm coming for the crown I'm little, but I’m coming for you (Chase paper, get it) I'm little but I’m coming for the title Held by everyone who’s up

{Lorde feels secure in her career, not just financially but with her artistry as well. Even if she is younger than every Grammy award-winning artist, she feels as if she has the capacity to beat them in the music industry eventually.}

[Chorus] All work and no play never made me lose it All business, all day keeps me up a level All work and no play keeps me on the new shit, yeah

{Lorde acts as if she does not mind the “adult life” she was so originally afraid of. Instead, she says she appreciates how it makes her feel more professional, updated and in control of everything. At least now, she does not have to act dumb with her friends and can be her mature self naturally. She is not crazy yet, even if she is a sixteen-year-old with an adult life.}

All work and no play, let me count the bruises All business, all day keeps me up a level All work and no play, lonely on that new shit, yeah, yeah

{Lorde seems to be getting exhausted with the life she has (hence “bruises”) but tells herself that it’s all part of the day’s work. Yet, she is slowly starting to realize how lonely and sad “all work” feels, especially at her age. She seems to express regret, and maybe would rather be with her “dumb” friends again.} [Bridge 2] Only bad people live to see their likeness set in stone Only bad people live to see their likeness set in stone What does that make me?  

[note that this line is directly taken from Why?’s song Torpedo or Crohn’s, Why? being a band Lorde is a huge fan of]

{When a person has a statue put up after their death, this means that people would like to honor them for they must have been a good person or done a good thing while alive. On the other hand, if a person has a statue put up while alive, this must mean that they have a power they use notoriously, therefore they are “bad”. Lorde wonders if she will turn into the latter.}

[Trivia: Lorde now has a wax figure at Madame Tussauds wax figure house. It may not be “stone” but it is pretty similar.]

[Bridge 1] I'm not in the swing of things But what I really mean is Not in the swing of things yet I'm not in the swing of things But what I really mean is Not in the swing of things yet

{Lorde repeats to herself she may may not be used to her fame and “early adulthood” now but she will be soon enough.} [Chorus] All work and no play never made me lose it All business, all day keeps me up a level All work and no play keeps me on the new shit, yeah All work and no play, let me count the bruises All business, all day keeps me up a level All work and no play, lonely on that new shit, yeah, yeah

Listen to Lorde’s song Still Sane here from her album Pure Heroine.