The Marites culture and the growth of showbiz talk shows on YouTube
It’s been years since prominent showbiz-oriented talk shows left the mainstream media here in the Philippines. These would include two of the most famous ones, Startalk which ran from 1995 to 2015, and The Buzz which went on from 1999 to 2015. I can still remember Boy Abunda being emotional as he and his fellow hosts bid their last goodbye on-air seven years ago. Who would have thought that years later, these famous talk show personalities would end up having their own YouTube channels? These channels, then, would gravitate around celebrity news and gossip.
Marites: “Mare, ito ang latest!”
Back in the day, being dubbed as a tsimosa felt somewhat offensive. This Filipino term was derived from the Spanish word chismosa which means gossip or nosy. Of course, who would want to be labeled as one? However, as time passes by, change remains inevitable.
Nowadays, people on social media don’t shy away from calling themselves Marites. This is a new Tagalog slang short for Mare, ito ang latest! Of course, this is just another term for someone who loves to gossip. And, Marites doesn’t even end there as various terms have started to come out from it.
All, at the same time, these online showbiz-oriented talk shows have gained large traction. So, these are the leading channels based on their subscriptions:
- Toni Gonzaga’s Toni Talks (6.26M subscribers)
- Boy Abunda Talk Channel (1.76M subscribers)
- Ogie Diaz Showbiz Update (728K subscribers)
- Cristy Fermin’s Showbiz Now Na! (260K subscribers)
The subject and issue featured on the show would often circulate on other social media platforms. Clips from the shows frequently get viral on Facebook and TikTok. This, then, would somehow dictate an influx of trends on social media. In an episode of Toni Talks, Zeinab Harake revealed that her ex-boyfriend Skusta Clee cheated on her. From there, the local rapper has been in hot water due to his actions.
We can see how audiences are emotionally-invested in people that they see on screen. They are also invested in issues tackled in these kinds of programs. It’s not surprising how these shows became an avenue for even politicians when gain public support. Through this, the hosts would usually be required to be not-so-critical towards their guests.
So, take it with a grain of salt.
The normalization of marites culture and the growth of showbiz-oriented talk shows on YouTube tell us what kind of society we have now. At the present, it is still hard to assume what will it be its long-term effect. What we can do now is to take everything that we hear with a grain of salt. Be mindful of whatever we share online.
It wouldn’t be nice to propagate tsismis now, does it?
