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I am POSI+IVE:The Production and Reception of Verisimilitude Portraying People Living with HIV/AIDS in Pulang Laso and Positive

Balmes, M. K., & Labuguen, J. C. (2015). I am POSI+IVE: The Production and Reception of Verisimilitude Portraying People Living with HIV/AIDS in Pulang Laso and Positive. Unpublished undergraduate thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman College of Mass Communication.

Considering the rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Philippines, government and other agencies responded to combat the disease. Moreover, the country’s HIV/AIDS situation was described as “hidden and growing”, meaning lack of knowledge and awareness cause the public’s vulnerability to infection. In addition, the media (e.g. entertainment media such as films, drama shows, infomercials) which has the power to shape perceptions, has been instrumental in informing and disseminating the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS in the country. Thus, this study investigates the semblance of a narrative to reality, if and how the mediated reality about HIV/AIDS is consistent with the lived experience of people living with HIV/AIDS. The construction of verisimilitude is an attempt to represent real-world events aligning to the audience's own experience. To explore how verisimilitude is created and perceived, the researchers delved into the process of script production and its receptions, by interviewing the scriptwriters of Pulang Laso and Positive and 20 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) informants. Although both shows have undergone the same production process, results show that the receptions of verisimilitude of PLWHAs in Pulang Laso revealed more acceptance of the produced reality than Positive.

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