Infidelity is not just entertaining, it rates!
It rates because a ton of people watch it regularly.
Because people watch infidelity regularly, see the onslaught of infidelity-themed shows come up one after another.
Ride the bandwagon while the iron is hot, so they say.
My Husband's Lover
The Borrowed Wife
Ang Dalawang Mrs Real
Currently, The Legal Wife is lording it over the primetime slot. The series even trends on Twitter, both locally and globally.
Do you know why? Here are my top 5 theories.
Why this is wrong: 2 gorgeous classily-dressed women fighting?
It's glorified mud wrestling!
Even Ramon Bautista agrees with me: "Maraming salamat sa 'The Legal Wife,' maraming mga poging katulad ko ang natuto na dapat ang pagmamahal eh siniseryoso. Hindi basta-basta pinaglalaruan ang mga puso ng kababaihan. Ang pagiging pogi ay isang responsibility, hindi siya dapat ginagamit panlinlang sa kababaihan," he said.
Why this is wrong: When you objectify someone, you don't treat him/her like a person, you see him/her as someone you can manipulate for your own use & advantage, the same way you would a toy. That's not healthy. Didn't you learn this in Values Education/Christian Living or from your (dysfunctional) family?
Jericho Rosales' Adrian is a dick with a face. Anyone who has a dick & a face can play Adrian.
Remember what Richard Gere said about his role in the movie Pretty Woman? He acknowledged that the star of the film was then relatively new newcomer, Julia Roberts, not him.
`I'm just a suit on a hanger in this movie' or something to that effect.
In Tagalog, in relation to Adrian, "poste lang siya na nilagyan ng pantalon."
Adrian is being treated by both women as objects - the same way Adrian is treating both women as objects.
Rio Locsin's character in the series' April 24 episode echoes the same statement when she told Mark Gil's character - apparently Nichole & Monica's parents have infidelity issues too -
"Hindi ako isang bagay na dapat pag-agawan.." or something to that effect.
(I can't help but feel Jericho Rosales' talent is wasted in this series. He's just there to initiate the Royal Rumble scenes between Angel Locsin & Maja Salvador & pretend to care that he cares about what they're feeling. Anyone with a good-looking profile & physique could pull that off.)
That's why there are all The Legal Wife memes, see.
You can place any word there in any language and the emotions will all be the same.
They can be fighting over a glass of water.
They can be angry because it's the first day of school.
They can be fighting over a kitten.
What stays the same are the emotions:
I WANT WHAT'S YOURS! - Envy, anger.
YOU CAN'T HAVE WHAT'S MINE! - Anger, selfishness, fear of losing what you have, belief that you alone deserve what you have.
Sadly, they're not talking about a toy, they're fighting over a human being.
It helped that the lines from the series are amusing and funny. It distracts us from our ugly feelings - feelings which we don't want to face. It also makes us think: it's all about their problems, not us. Now we can all sleep soundly at night.
Who doesn't want to see our enemy apologize because they made our lives a living hell?
We all do.
Why do we do that? Not because we're bad Christians. It's simply because we think revenge is sweet and karma's a bitch.
Why it's wrong: It's our ego rearing its ugly head and we're allowing it to get the best of us.
Adrian - no matter how convincing he is in professing his love for Monica - never loved his legal wife.
Adrian doesn't love Nicole either. See how he's using both women so he can have his cake and eat it too? That's selfishness to the nth degree.
Monica - no matter how much she thinks she is over Adrian (because she has filed an annulment) - still felt hurt & affected when she saw him & Nicole not because she still loved him.
Monica loved the illusion she had about Adrian. She loved what she thought Adrian was. She loved her impressions of him - not the person. She loved her own beliefs and expectations of him.
Nicole is obsessed with Adrian not because she loved him, it was because she loved what Monica had. If Monica had a lego set, she'd probably steal that too not because she loved legos, it's because she wanted whatever Monica has.
Everyone's in pseudolove in The Legal Wife, yet they (and we) think they're in love. They aren't.
They all think they're in love with each other.
Love is honest, kind and respectful. It is also simple. When you find yourself saying "It's Complicated"
you're working on and believing in tons of (most of them non-existent) assumptions to prop up a flimsy theory.
e.g.
Theory: He loves me
Assumptions: Because he wants to stay with me and not his mistress.
Because he chose me over her/him.
Because he promised not to hurt me again.
Because he apologized and was crying too.
Theory: He loves me
Assumption: Because he wants to make me happy by having no need or want to have a mistress or hurt me in any way, manner or form.
Which theory requires little assumptions?
"If you have two theories that both explain the observed facts, then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along"
"The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations."
"If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, choose the simplest."
"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
Can you relate with The Legal Wife because you think you're going crazy for love too? Are you sure it's love or is it pseudolove?
If Adrian was a mormon or a Muslim, there will be no problems at all between him, Monica and Nicole. But then, there wouldn't be any drama either.
Thank God they're all Catholics.
It rates because a ton of people watch it regularly.
Because people watch infidelity regularly, see the onslaught of infidelity-themed shows come up one after another.
Ride the bandwagon while the iron is hot, so they say.
My Husband's Lover
The Borrowed Wife
Ang Dalawang Mrs Real
Currently, The Legal Wife is lording it over the primetime slot. The series even trends on Twitter, both locally and globally.
Do you know why? Here are my top 5 theories.
1 We love to see two women fighting each other for a man
Why this is wrong: 2 gorgeous classily-dressed women fighting?
It's glorified mud wrestling!
See the men grinning from ear to ear standing & ogling behind the 2 women?
Gorgeous women fighting for the attention of a man
is every indecent man's dream come true.
Men get what they want while the women do all the work. Sa'n ka pa?
See Jericho Rosales' character's reaction in the series' June 6 episode when Monica and Nicole confront anew.
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh --- HUH?
Whaaa....?
They're fighting over me again?!
Even Ramon Bautista agrees with me: "Maraming salamat sa 'The Legal Wife,' maraming mga poging katulad ko ang natuto na dapat ang pagmamahal eh siniseryoso. Hindi basta-basta pinaglalaruan ang mga puso ng kababaihan. Ang pagiging pogi ay isang responsibility, hindi siya dapat ginagamit panlinlang sa kababaihan," he said.
2 We love to see a man be objectified for a change
Why this is wrong: When you objectify someone, you don't treat him/her like a person, you see him/her as someone you can manipulate for your own use & advantage, the same way you would a toy. That's not healthy. Didn't you learn this in Values Education/Christian Living or from your (dysfunctional) family?
Jericho Rosales' Adrian is a dick with a face. Anyone who has a dick & a face can play Adrian.
Remember what Richard Gere said about his role in the movie Pretty Woman? He acknowledged that the star of the film was then relatively new newcomer, Julia Roberts, not him.
`I'm just a suit on a hanger in this movie' or something to that effect.
In Tagalog, in relation to Adrian, "poste lang siya na nilagyan ng pantalon."
Adrian is being treated by both women as objects - the same way Adrian is treating both women as objects.
Rio Locsin's character in the series' April 24 episode echoes the same statement when she told Mark Gil's character - apparently Nichole & Monica's parents have infidelity issues too -
"Hindi ako isang bagay na dapat pag-agawan.." or something to that effect.
(I can't help but feel Jericho Rosales' talent is wasted in this series. He's just there to initiate the Royal Rumble scenes between Angel Locsin & Maja Salvador & pretend to care that he cares about what they're feeling. Anyone with a good-looking profile & physique could pull that off.)
3 We can all relate
Why this is wrong: You don't need to be in an illicit love triangle to be able to relate with the betrayal, infidelity & anger spewed out by the series' main characters. All you have to be is selfish & angry.That's why there are all The Legal Wife memes, see.
You can place any word there in any language and the emotions will all be the same.
They can be fighting over a glass of water.
They can be angry because it's the first day of school.
They can be fighting over a kitten.
What stays the same are the emotions:
I WANT WHAT'S YOURS! - Envy, anger.
YOU CAN'T HAVE WHAT'S MINE! - Anger, selfishness, fear of losing what you have, belief that you alone deserve what you have.
Sadly, they're not talking about a toy, they're fighting over a human being.
It helped that the lines from the series are amusing and funny. It distracts us from our ugly feelings - feelings which we don't want to face. It also makes us think: it's all about their problems, not us. Now we can all sleep soundly at night.
4 We love to see our enemy suffer
Who doesn't want to see the person that made our lives a living hell cower in submission & surrender to our power?
Who doesn't want to see our enemy be put in a place they deserve to be in?
Who doesn't want to see our enemy apologize because they made our lives a living hell?
We all do.
Why do we do that? Not because we're bad Christians. It's simply because we think revenge is sweet and karma's a bitch.
Why it's wrong: It's our ego rearing its ugly head and we're allowing it to get the best of us.
5 We love to think they're all going crazy for love
Adrian - no matter how convincing he is in professing his love for Monica - never loved his legal wife.
Adrian doesn't love Nicole either. See how he's using both women so he can have his cake and eat it too? That's selfishness to the nth degree.
Monica - no matter how much she thinks she is over Adrian (because she has filed an annulment) - still felt hurt & affected when she saw him & Nicole not because she still loved him.
Monica loved the illusion she had about Adrian. She loved what she thought Adrian was. She loved her impressions of him - not the person. She loved her own beliefs and expectations of him.
Nicole is obsessed with Adrian not because she loved him, it was because she loved what Monica had. If Monica had a lego set, she'd probably steal that too not because she loved legos, it's because she wanted whatever Monica has.
Everyone's in pseudolove in The Legal Wife, yet they (and we) think they're in love. They aren't.
They all think they're in love with each other.
Love is honest, kind and respectful. It is also simple. When you find yourself saying "It's Complicated"
you're working on and believing in tons of (most of them non-existent) assumptions to prop up a flimsy theory.
e.g.
Theory: He loves me
Assumptions: Because he wants to stay with me and not his mistress.
Because he chose me over her/him.
Because he promised not to hurt me again.
Because he apologized and was crying too.
Theory: He loves me
Assumption: Because he wants to make me happy by having no need or want to have a mistress or hurt me in any way, manner or form.
Which theory requires little assumptions?
"If you have two theories that both explain the observed facts, then you should use the simplest until more evidence comes along"
"The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations."
"If you have two equally likely solutions to a problem, choose the simplest."
"The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct."
Can you relate with The Legal Wife because you think you're going crazy for love too? Are you sure it's love or is it pseudolove?
If Adrian was a mormon or a Muslim, there will be no problems at all between him, Monica and Nicole. But then, there wouldn't be any drama either.
Thank God they're all Catholics.
