I AM THE LOVER: THE RECEPTION OF SELECTED HOMOSEXUAL MEN OF THE TELESERYE “MY HUSBAND’S LOVER”
I AM THE LOVER: THE RECEPTION OF SELECTED HOMOSEXUAL MEN OF THE TELESERYE “MY HUSBAND’S LOVER”
Abstract
In the Philippines, our perception of the bakla has usually been associated with the parlorista or a flamboyant hair dresser. They are biological males who prefer to become women and who desire to have real men as their partners. With the advent of a “new” representation of the bakla as someone who dresses up and who acts as a real man in the television scene, through the teleserye, My Husband’s Lover, how will self-identified gay individuals receive the show?
This study is about the meaning of the reception of four gay individuals living in Metro Manila. I have used concepts from Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory and the method Oral History in gathering data. Their individual meaning structures and personal experiences were important in looking at how they received the show.
The storytellers were all able to identify with the character/s in the show, though, the kind of identification differed for each of them. Their belief systems about sexual orientation and gender identity also affected how they identified the gender roles in the show. All in all, love and acceptance for being bakla that the society deprived them dragged them to watch My Husband’s Lover. However, with the fresh portrayal of an image of a bakla, most of them have not yet overcome the burdens of self-oppression.
Keywords: Teleserye, Bakla, Gender Identity & Sexual Orientation
Lim , K. (2014). I AM THE LOVER: The Reception of Selected Homosexual Men of the Teleserye “My Husband’s Lover”. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.