Good afternoon everyone!
This is my research study how gay character is portrayed in the Filipino movie “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros.” I analyze on how accurate the media industry in portraying gay characters. Its limelight in evaluating the following:

• Portrayal of gay character in terms of Physical Appearance, Interaction to society and Character traits.
• Archetypes used.
• The symbolism in the movie
• The media in treatments to gay with the use of content analysis and semiotic analysis.
  
  
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Filipino Gay theme Movies

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Filipino gay theme movies had been prominent in the Philippines these past few decades. To name some we have “Manay po”,”Masahista”,”Praybet Benjamen”, and “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros”. “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” is an award winning film directed by Aureus Solito released in 2005.

The Plot
The film’s plot is about a 12 years old gay (Maxi) who lives with his father and two brothers in in a squatter area in Manila City. Maxi is on the cusp of becoming a teenager. The plot revolves around Maximo or Maxi’s juvenile love for a young Police man who saves him.The plot also focused on the illegal livelihood of Maxi’s family.
The movie garnered 24 awards and 28 nominations from award giving bodies locally and international.

Some have watch or heard the movie but not everybody had analyzed the movie which is a worthy to explore and examine. In Philippines being gay is tough focusing on the level of acceptance of gays also a high number of discrimination towards homosexuals in this conservative nation. In Media Industry, gay theme movies received a lot of critiques and controversies to which leads me to examine this certain gaps.

Arguments
Unlike the recent portray character which is inaccurate, the media was able to portray gay character in Philippine movie to be realistic and accurate in terms of character traits and focus on how gay men live their daily lives. This affects the views and opinion towards homosexual.

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In the Movie ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros, these are the following that i tried to analyze.

1. How are gay character in the movie portrayed in terms of:
   • Physical appearance
   • Character traits
   • Interaction to society
2. What are the Archetypes used to portray the gay Character in the movie?
3. What are the Metaphor uses to symbolize gay character?
4. How does Media industry treats gay?

To further understand, this was the conceptual framework that i made

The diagram above are the different factors and concepts to build the conceptual framework of the study. This study delves into gay character portrayal in the movie “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros.” Its main concern is to examine how gay character are portrayed by the media compares to reality. It traces the different factors on gay portrayal of the movie.

After an intensive research i came up with this result and findings:
Gay character portrayal in the movie “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros.”In terms of the following:

• Physical Appearance
  

  
  
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  In the movie “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” porytrayed by a 12 years old Nathan Lopez in real life. With the used of content analysis, we are able to analyze how media portrays gay character’s physical appearance. At the start of the movie we can easily identify Maxi’s gayness. Maxi wears shorts and slim shirts that for girls. The color of Maxi’s dress are pink, yellow, which symbolizes feminity. Maxi also wears make ups and uses also hair clips and hair bands which really links to physical appearance of a woman. He also speaks in a feminine tune. Maxi’s physical appearance was able to capture the real image of an effeminate gay.

• Character Traits
  

  
  
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  It gives guide to find out how Maxi is portrayed in the movie. Unlike most of the movie where gay characters are portrayed as loud, promiscuous, and even paid for sex. In the movie, as we evaluates it, it’s completely opposite in Maxi’s behavior like a girl, walks like a beauty queen. It also showcases Maxi’s character strongly dreaming of becoming a beauty queen as he and his friends playing as candidates in pageants. This shows a typical Filipino gay men who’s a big fan of pageants. The “male gaze” was also seen on the film while victor was on shower Maxi’s eyes were on him. Victor becomes the object of another male gaze wherein his persona, his physique and his countenance become an “appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact…” (in Mast, Cohen, & Braudy, 1992).

• Interaction to Society
  

  
  
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  The movie portrayal of gay Maxi’s character on how he interacts to society is quite different as well. Maxi was a shy and was only interacting to his gay friends and family, his two brothers and sister. Maxi’s character does not show much of him interacting to other people. It shows as well the young love of Maxi to a police man (Victor) who saved him. There are scenes that shows how his classmates bullied and teased him. It also showcase a scene where Maxi was almost molest him. This scene just shows a harsh reality on homosexual and how they struggles to live their daily lives.

*Archetypes

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While doing some research, I was amazed to find out that there are 10 identified archetypes of gay character. Effeminate gay or the “parloristang bakla” is identified to Maximo Oliveros portrayal. Merriam Webster has defined effeminate as “having or showing qualities that we considered more suited to women than to men: not manly in appearance or manner”. Maxi’s mannerism is very feminine; the way he throws his hands as he walks around, dramatizing and day dreaming on everything he do. Which in reality is accurate.

* Symbolism

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With the use of semiotic analysis; we are able to uncover some symbolism of the gay character in the movie. The title itself “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” is catchy. The word “pagdadalaga” is a Filipino term that refers to a girl who undergoes puberty age and physical changes. It combines to the name “Maximo Oliveros” which is a very manly name. The title itself is an oxymoron, opposite ideas and phrases that are contradicting to each other are combined to create impact. At the first part, dirty river with garbage floating in there, squatter areas are known to be dirty. A pink flower can also be seen floating along in the water which represent Maxi. The surrounding around Maxi’s indicates that he lives in poverty. Maxi’s cooking, cleaning the house, sewing his brother’s clothes symbolizes of portraying a woman choir. A boy wearing a flower on his ears, with these, Maxi’s homosexuality is easily depicted. In the first few parts we can see a pink dress hanging in the house which is feminist.

* Media Portrayal

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While reading some related articles on Media’s representation towards gay characters, we found out that the way they portray gay characters are evolving. If we will base it historically, the image has been negative. It is rare to see a homosexual being the main character, they are even depicted as villains. It also heads to negative stereotypical portrayal s. The portrayal of homosexuality is more likely invisible. They are often given a serious portrayal rather than the stereotypical comedic relief or “laughing stuff”. But in the early 20th century, there was a big shift to how gay characters are being portrayed. It brought a new level of awareness and reducing the level of pessimistic portrayal, exposures are visibly seen which just indicates to level of awareness. As we gathered all the data’s; we came up that until to these days there are biases on how gay characters being portrayed by media. In GAAD, report shows that media favors to portray Caucasian days. They appears likely in mainstream media comparing to Asian which is 5% only and Latino’s 11% Articles written in LGBT. co.Uk, a website of one of the largest LGBT group in UK list a several problems on how gay men are portrayed. Unrealistic Portrayal of gays. As the awareness of society changes. The gay characters are given more airtime.

Conclusion on the Movie

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The study shows that the portrayal of the gay character in the movie is realistic and media was able to depict the real life of a homosexual. The movie itself portrayed the gay character more accurate and was able to highlight the the struggles in terms of acceptance and discrimination towards gays in this conservative society. The films was able to capture the real image of gay men unlike most of the film media industry made. Despite of the fact that the film subjected on the ruthless social reality of the world it did not overshadows the gay character portrayal. The film underpinned concerns and ventures new discoveries. The movie was able to show the secret life of gay men-raid women’s wardrobe and heels, playing as as beauty queen and daydreaming all day which is an eye-opener to everyone. The movie also showcases the Filipino’s resiliency and strength amid adversity.

The issue of media was being unrealistic on portraying gay characters which was put on the spotlight and subject to our research paper on evaluating gay theme movies here in the Philippines.
The fact that the media industry in Philippine mainstream was able to show a realistic and accurate film just emphasizes the high level of awareness of the society towards.

Thank you for dropping by!
Zam

Sources
1.Media Smart. Queer Representation in Film and Television. Retrieved April 10, 2018. http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/media-issues/diversity-media/queer-representation/queer-representation-film-television
(2) Zulueta, L. 2014. Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros: Growing up Gay, grim and determined. Retrieved March 28,2018http://www.manunuri.com/reviews/ang_pagdadalaga_ni_maximo_oliveros_growing_up_gay_grim_and_determined
(3) Payuyo, L.2012.The Portrayal of Gays in Popular Filipino films, 2000 to 2010.Retrieved. Aril 04, 2018.
http://lynchlibrary.pssc.org.ph:8081/bitstream/handle/0/1379/12_The%20Portrayal%20of%20Gays%20in%20Popular%20Filipino%20Filims,%202000%20to%202010.pdf?sequence=1
(4).Martin. J. Gays and Bisexual Archetypes in classical Mythology. Retrieved April 04, 2018. http://www.philhine.org.uk/writings/flsh_gbarch.html
(5)Jamon,R.August 2006. In Full Boom: Review of The Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros. Retrieved March 30, 2018 From file:///C:/Users/Micros0ft/Downloads/2006%2002%20Jamon.pdf
(6).Garcia, J.N.C. Philippine Gay Culture. Retrieved April 24, 2018. From http://www.panitikan.com.ph/content/philippine-gay-culture-conclusion
(7) Purcell, M.January 29, 2014. Portrayal Of Gay People in Television. Retrieved April 08, 2018 From https://sites.psu.edu/purcellci/2014/01/29/portrayal-of-gay-people-on-television/