Exploring the Dolphy bakla: Queerness in Philippine cinema

College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

Literature, Department of

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source Title

Palgrave Handbook of Asian Cinema

First Page

583

Last Page

605

Publication Date

2018

Abstract

This chapter explores Philippine cinema’s representations of the bakla, a local gendered identitythat conflates ideas of male homosexuality and transgenderism. By examining the films of Dolphy, the chapter outlines tropes that have become associated with the bakla, including the conversion trope, where the bakla are forced to conform to traditional notions of masculinity. The chapter also identifies tensions between contemporary representations of the bakla as themasculine gay man and as the transgender woman in films – tensions that also exist within thewider Southeast Asian context. Looking at the bakla as the primary queer figure in Philippine cinema enables film audiences to examine more closely similar figures in other Asian cinemas: the kathoey of Thailand, the waria of Indonesia, and the mak-nyah of Malaysia

html

Disciplines

Film and Media Studies

Keywords

Gays in motion pictures; Sexual minorities in motion pictures

Upload File

wf_no

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS