Here-There: Enduring an Unwatchable Philippines in San Francisco

Abstract

This article studies diasporic spectatorship of transnational media of the Philippines and proposes that the unwatchable is not simply that which cannot stand to be seen. Rather, within the context of two Filipino-centric visual media events organized in San Francisco, the article frames as unwatchable difficult viewing experiences that produce unexpected strategies for beholding. By examining Brillante Mendoza’s film Ma’Rosa (2016) and Raffy Lerma’s photojournalistic coverage of extrajudicial killings linked to President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs in the Philippines, the article positions laughter, silence, and turning away as diasporic viewing strategies that charge seemingly unengaged emotional responses with a politics for enduring traumatic visual media.