Is queer representation enough?
Filipino queer movies and series released in recent years. (Photo: ABS-CBN)
As a Filipino kid, my first memories of seeing queer people portrayed in media were from those old 90s films where gay men were often used as comic relief. My family laughed at the flamboyant gay man throwing himself at the macho male protagonist and getting rejected, so I laughed, too.
And so I grew up seeing gay people always portrayed that way: side characters to the main story, there to provide cheap laughs between plot points. It wasn’t until I started getting older and realizing my own queerness that I started to actually think more deeply about queer representation.
It’s worth asking: How has queer media changed since then, and is representation really all that matters?
50 years of gay cinema in Southeast Asia
The Kontinentalist breaks down the history of queer cinema in Southeast Asia in an insightful visualization, showing how the stories told about queer people in film have changed over time.
The oldest film in their database is a Filipino film by renowned director Lino Brocka, Tubog sa Ginto (1970) which tells the story of a wealthy, married businessman (Eddie Garcia) who has an affair with his driver. Queerness was taboo at the time, and the desperation in which Garcia’s character tries to hide his sexuality is a reflection of that.
Then, stories slowly shifted to feature queerness outside of being gay or lesbian: In the 90s, the first sex reassignment surgery in Southeast Asia happened in Singapore. As transfolk started to gain more visibility, Singapore also became known for the now-famous street food tourist spot which was home to a community of transgender women at the time, and thus becoming the catalyst for the 1995 film Bugis Street.
Queer films released in Southeast Asia since 1970. (Source: The Kontinentalist)
Over time, there has been an increase in the number of queer films produced across the board. As queer media became more prominent, there came more documentaries about the lives of the LGBTQ+ in Asia, and then eventually, films where queerness was normalized, and gay relationships were not treated any differently from straight ones.
The Philippines has the most films featuring queer characters. (Source: The Kontinentalist)
Interestingly, the Philippines has produced the most queer films out of all the Southeast Asian countries, though this representation has sometimes been questionable. The Kontinentalist notes that the portrayal of the bakla, which colloquially refers to both the gay man and the transgender woman, is extremely popular in Filipino cinema, from Dolphy in the 70s to Vice Ganda in recent times.
More than movies
Today, we see more queer people in media than ever before. More identities are featured in more kinds of media, like the 2016 film Die Beautiful, which puts the spotlight the story of a transgender woman; My Husband’s Lover, the first gay drama on Philippine television; Sleep With Me, a miniseries that features a lesbian relationship—not to mention the rise of Boy’s Love as a genre in Asia, prompting a new wave of queer content.
Still, some argue that queer representation still might not be enough, and the plethora of scandals behind some of the most prominent queer projects to date poses many concerns for the community.
Gaya Sa Pelikula, for instance, at the time of its release was a widely celebrated Filipino web series inspired by the BL genre created by poet, writer, and LGBTQ+ advocate Juan Miguel Severo. However, as sexual assault allegations against Severo arose, the production of the show’s second season was halted. At the time, questions and criticisms were raised, as someone who was so prominent and influential in the community was suddenly revealed to be an abuser.
BL as a genre has also been criticized for as long as it has existed, and even from where pop culture historians trace the genre’s roots, to the yaoi manga subculture in the 70s. Some argue that BL is queer content targeted towards straight women, and because of that, BL sometimes falls into the trap of portraying heterosexual stereotypes on gay relationships.
So while it’s a good thing that we’re seeing queer content normalized, I wonder if that’s enough. There are only 29 countries in the world where gay marriage is legalized, and Taiwan is the only Asian country on that list. Thailand, perhaps the most LGBTQ+ friendly Southeast Asian country, is close to passing a law that legalizes same-sex unions but there are conservative groups within its government making moves to shoot it down.
In the Philippines, the SOGIE Bill, which seeks to ban discrimination on the basis of an individual’s SOGIE, has still yet to be passed, 22 years after its earliest version was first filed.
As we move forward, there are only more questions to be asked and discussions to be had. Representation is good, but is that representation really true to the queer experience? Does it even matter, if we are letting abusers have positions of power in the community and our governments are failing to pass laws granting the LGBTQ+ basic rights?
