Pearl Pangan, aka Wave, has been confirmed to be a main cast member of the upcoming animated series Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Although she was first introduced in Marvel Comics not too long ago, she’s already going to debut on TV screens in 2024. It’s likely that she’ll soon make her live-action debut as well.

Pangan was born and raised in Mactan Island, in the Philippines’ Central Visayas region. Her home base is in Cebu City (also in Central Visayas). Although many people assume that the Philippines has one culture (“Filipino culture”) and one language (“Filipino language”), the islands are actually home to 100+ different languages and cultures. (Nolasco, 2007)

Pearl's ethno-linguistic group, the Cebuano-speaking Visayans, make up approx. 25.6% of the Philippines’ population, almost as many as Tagalog speakers. There are about 21 million native Cebuano speakers. (Tirosh, 2021)

Yet our ethno-linguistic group still gets paltry and poor representation in Philippine media. Bisaya people are often represented as crass, uneducated, and worthy of maltreatment. Fair-skinned actors, usually ones who aren’t actually Bisaya in real life, use brownface to play Bisaya roles. (Kitane, 2012) (Ramirez, 2018)

On the other hand, Bisaya people face discrimination and harassment in the workplace — whether it’s in the entertainment industry (Bácor, 2018) or more traditional work environments like call centers. (The Summit Express, 2020)

Bisaya people are insulted with the ethnic slur “bisakol.” Filipino society conditions us to believe that our background and use of the Cebuano language are things worthy of shame and punishment (financial, emotional, and physical). Since childhood, we Bisaya people are taught to hate ourselves and accept other people’s hatred.

Bisaya is a culture, not a costume. Although Tagalog actresses are also talented, authenticity requires more than just talent. It would be absolutely disastrous and irresponsible for such a big franchise as the MCU to cast an actress who isn’t Bisaya for the role of Pearl/Wave. Pop culture has a huge impact on public perception.

For instance, Philippine linguistics scholar Ruanni Tupas has observed that the emerging P-Pop (Philippine pop) scene is a good way for others to learn about the multilingualism of the Philippines. (Tupas, 2021) Likewise, however, pop culture can worsen the public's ignorance and materially affect groups of people like the Cebuano-speaking Visayans. 

There are over 21 million Cebuano-speaking Bisaya folks. Pearl Pangan can and should be found among those millions of native Cebuano speakers. We don't need just any Filipino to play Pearl, but a Cebuano-speaking Bisaya actress. The Philippines is not a cultural or linguistic monolith.

Sources:

Filipino and Tagalog, Not So Simple / How to Value Our Languages — Ricardo Nolasco, PhD, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino

The Philippines’ Language Report: What Language Is Spoken in the Philippines? — Ofer Tirosh, Tomedes Translation Company

Romancing Cultural Difference: A Study on the Representation of Visayan Women on Philippine Television — Josephine Kitane, University of the Philippines Diliman

The Racial Slur Against Bisaya in the Light of John Rawls’ Theory of Justice — Iris Ramirez, Bukidnon State University

The Tales of Pilita and The Beks, or When Filipinos Discriminate Against Bisaya and Gayspeak Speakers — Basil Bácor Jr., Kadlit Press 

Call center agent shamed by TL for ‘Bisaya accent’ — The Summit Express

Translingual Dispositions, Multilingual P-Pop and the Fight for Philippine Languages — Ruanni Tupas, Atlantis Press