The AlDub Phenomenon: Love Teams, More Fun in the Philippines

Not so long ago, teleserye love teams were the mainstream picture in the heads of many Filipinos. The typical boy-meets-girl stories we see on TV were the closest thing most of us could witness of commercialized love teams. Romance were either a relevent or a totally non-existent issue in the country, despite the irony of Filipinos being "romantics". But things were suddenly taken on a different turn when a local TV Station introduced us to one of the best things that happened on Filipino TV: AlDub.

An unintentional chemistry between actor Alden Richards and internet celebrity Maine Mendoza, or also dubbed as "Yaya Dub" (see what I did there), many Filipinos witnessed the next best love team on National TV. Thus, the beginning of the AlDub Phenomenon.

Taking into account and creating parodies of the usual Filipino storylines like the leading lady suddenly being in the middle of an arranged marriage, or one of them being kidnapped for ransom, or when the lady's family doesn't approve of the man, AlDub just won the hearts of the masses. Together with GMA Network's Eat Bulaga family, the cast of the so-called Kalyeserye consisting of Wally Bayola, Paolo Balesteros and Jose Manalo just kept the story going on and on and never fails to leave the audience wanting more. After months of airing Eat Bulaga's Kalyeserye segment, the show resorted to going live through the "Ang Tamang Panahon" show held at the biggest arena in the country, and filling it with thousands of fans ready to witness more of AlDub.

A phenomenon as such is so rare in today's culture that when one suddenly falls into our hands, it's evident and we can't help but wonder how a mainstream and light project could spark the interest of hundreds of thousands. It's the impressive effort of the people running the Kalyeserye segment to keep the story going together with the hearts of the masses. Presenting an image of two people deeply in love with each other yet struggling with the challenge of seeing each other in person while still fighting for their love, urged the Filipinos to show their inner romantics.

And being the inner romantics that we are, we keep waiting for what's next for Alden and Yaya Dub whether we like to admit it or not. It's contagious, really. We either go from wanting to know what the chaos is all about, to being completely hooked on the entire idea. But in a nutshell, AlDub is today's representation of how our culture slowly created an image for Filipino romance. Light and heavy at the same time, full of values and has a message strong enough to keep on going even in the eyes of many.