The Bakla and the Silver Screen : Queer Cinema in the Philippines
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Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Cultural Studies 3-23-2017 The bakla and the silver screen : queer cinema in the Philippines Michael Nuñez INTON Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/cs_etd Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons Recommended Citation Inton, M. N. (2017). The bakla and the silver screen: Queer cinema in the Philippines (Doctor's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/cs_etd/30/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Cultural Studies at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. THE BAKLA AND THE SILVER SCREEN: QUEER CINEMA IN THE PHILIPPINES INTON MICHAEL NUÑEZ PHD LINGNAN UNIVERSITY 2016 THE BAKLA AND THE SILVER SCREEN: QUEER CINEMA IN THE PHILIPPINES by INTON Michael Nuñez A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Studies Lingnan University 2016 ABSTRACT The Bakla and the Silver Screen: Queer Cinema in the Philippines by INTON Michael Nuñez Doctor of Philosophy This study looks at representations of the bakla in Philippine cinema from 1954 to 2015. I argue that the bakla, a local gender category that incorporates ideas of male homosexuality, effeminacy, cross-dressing, and transgenderism, has become a central figure in Philippine cinema. I examine the films of Dolphy, the actor who was the first to popularize bakla roles in mainstream cinema, and I outline several tropes that create the bakla image in movies: “classical” kabaklaan (being bakla), which involves cross- dressing, effeminacy, and being woman-hearted; the conversion trope, where the bakla stubbornly resists being forcibly masculinized by the men that surround him; and women’s enabling of the bakla to perform femininity despite his male body. The bakla also becomes trapped in the dialectic between the genres of comedy and melodrama – the bakla then becomes either a comic relief character or a tragic character, someone who should be both pitied and admired for enduring tragic circumstances. Since the word bakla colloquially means both the gay man and the transgender woman, I also look at the intersections between the bakla and global transgender rights discourse in Philippine cinema. I argue that the bakla’s male body and his female heart mirror contemporary thinking about transgenderism, where a person’s birth-assigned sex does not match their gender identity. I look at films in the science fiction/fantasy adventure genre and examine how the male body is transformed into a female body – whether through medical or magical means – but the bakla gender category remains pervasive. I next look at independent films and how the camera constructs bakla sexuality in cinema by framing the male body as an object of desire. I also examine how the bakla have shifted their sexuality from the desiring the otherness of the macho lalake (masculine man) to desiring sameness in the form of other bakla (masculine gay men). Incidentally, this shift in the object of sexuality coincides with the shift in gender performance from “traditional” kabaklaan, with its elements of effeminacy and cross- dressing, to a more homonormative image, mirroring the “modern” discourse of gay globality. Finally, I examine the contemporary Philippine celebrity star system and the popularity of bakla films within the last decade. I argue that Vice Ganda becomes representative of the ideal bakla, one who is affluent but still ‘reachable’; opinionated and politically engaged with LGBT rights; and finally, funny and comic in a way that is empowering for himself, but also in manners that are abrasive and offensive. CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................ iv Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 I. Background ........................................................................................ 1 II. LGBT Activism in the Philippines ..................................................... 4 III. The Bakla and Philippine Cinema: Research Questions .................. 14 IV. Significance of the study .................................................................. 18 V. Scope and Limitations ...................................................................... 19 Chapter 2: Methodology ............................................................................................ 21 I. The Bakla ......................................................................................... 21 II. The Cinema ...................................................................................... 26 III. A brief history of cinema in the Philippines ..................................... 31 Chapter 3: The Dolphy Bakla .................................................................................... 38 I. Being bakla ....................................................................................... 38 II. The Conversion Trope ...................................................................... 47 III. Melodrama and Comedy .................................................................. 52 IV. Continuing the Tropes: The Roderick Bakla .................................... 66 V. Synthesis ........................................................................................... 71 Chapter 4: The Borders between Bakla and Trans ............................................. 80 I. Border-ing the bakla ......................................................................... 80 II. Body, Mind, and Spirit ..................................................................... 84 III. Social Activism and Social Acceptance ......................................... 103 IV. Synthesis ......................................................................................... 113 Chapter 5: Bakla Sexuality and the Gaze ......................................................... 115 I. Masculinizing the bakla ................................................................. 116 II. Gazing at the Bakla ........................................................................ 126 III. Synthesis ......................................................................................... 142 Chapter 6: Celebrity and Kabaklaan ................................................................ 144 I. Celebrification ................................................................................ 144 II. The Bakla as Star before the 2000s ................................................ 149 III. Vice Ganda and the Bakla as Celebrity .......................................... 154 IV. Synthesis ......................................................................................... 179 Chapter 7: Conclusions .................................................................................... 182 I. Let the bakla prevail ....................................................................... 182 i II. Moving forward .............................................................................. 191 GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................. 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 196 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: "Glory" is confronted by his sister, Luisa, in Jack & Jill. 43 Figure 2: Dolphy, as Facifica Falayfay. 46 Figure 3: Walterina Markova, carrying the bakla's signature fan. 56 Figure 4: Eric Quizon (center) plays the young Markova. 59 Figure 5: Markova is the Reyna Elena, the Santacruzan's Queen of Queens. 64 Figure 6: Dolphy and his two sons as Walterina Markova. 66 Figure 7: Transgender actress BB Gandanghari plays Ada. 90 Figure 8: Darna (left) and ZsaZsa Zaturnnah (right). 93 Figure 9: Argel in Bathhouse proclaims himself the queen of the dark room. 125 Figure 10: Antonio's first sexual encounter. 134 Figure 11: Altarejos is fond of shots that put male bodies on display. 136 Figure 12: The masculine bakla body is put on display in Jay Altarejos’ Kasal. 141 Figure 13: Vice Ganda on the variety show, Showtime. 158 Figure 14: Girlie transphobically mocks her bakla sibling. 168 Figure 15: Vice Ganda as Peter in Petrang Kabayo. 169 Figure 16: Kiray Celis, in blackface, with Vice Ganda. 170 Figure 17: Vice Ganda in costume. 172 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Magaganda pa rin naman tayo… sa dilim. “We are all beautiful… in the dark.” This thesis is dedicated to all those beautiful people, “out there, in the dark” as Norma Desmond puts it, who have helped me see light in the past three or so years. First and foremost, I would like to thank my wonderful supervisor, Dr. Li Siu Leung, who has always been kind and generous with his time, expertise, good humor, advice, cookies and tea. I would also like to thank my co-supervisors, Dr. Lisa Leung and Dr. Yau Ching for their invaluable support and feedback. I would especially like to thank Professor