Hero/Heroine

The Little Boy is Now A Lady

You're probably familiar with Maxi: the young, effeminate protagonist of the acclaimed independent film Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros. In case you aren't, here's a trailer to acquaint you with the charming twelve year old:




Although the movie's representation of male homosexuality still falls under what one may consider stereotypical, the fact that Maxi is an adolescent renders it fresh—a far cry from the usual, more mainstream films centering on gayness. Instead of dealing with issues on Maxi's sexuality, the movie focuses more on his relationships with the people surrounding him, particularly his family and his love interest Victor, treating his being gay as natural, instead of an issue that needs some dwelling on.

Maxi's home environment is very macho. He lives with three straight men—his father and his two older brothers—who all happen to be archetypally macho. Given these circumstances, one might assume that the family would be against Maxi's homosexuality. This, however, is not the case. All three men show no opposition the their bunso's effeminacy and even make jokes about it by telling him to buy sanitary napkins for himself and calling him sister. The same goes with Victor—the young police officer whom Maxi develops a crush on.

I find it rather curious that the vagueness of Victor's sexuality was maintained throughout the film, making his character a possible resistance to commonplace notions on masculinity, given the close relationship he develops with Maxi.

Komiks, anyone?

Just where can you buy comics for 25 cents these days?! These may be ancient, but your favorite Filipino comics writers and artists have chosen to include representations of women in their works as well. Here are a couple of them:

A warrior princess from a Moslem tribe,the fierce and feisty Prinsesa Bituin is no damsel in distress!

It is interesting to note, as our English 197 professor commented, that we have yet to see representations like these of women coming from Christian backgrounds. If you find any, feel free to e-mail us and let's get them posted!

Mars Ravelo's 1950s classic "Jack and Jill" features a female who is able to take on the role of a jeepney driver and make it in a "men's world".

"Jack and Jill" was also turned into a film by Viva in 1987 starring Sharon Cuneta as Jack (Jacky Lou) and Herbert Bautista as Jill (Hilario) and had a sequel titled "Jack and Jill sa America". The good thing about this representation is that although both Jack and Jill seemed to have reversed conventional roles, their father freely accepts this. However, in this clip, they are shown to view what happened to them as a "mistake" and are constantly quarrelling. They remain to be a hilarious pair to movie viewers, remembered for how they endlessly argue but more so because in the end, they always stood for each other.

Watch it here: