Delos Santos, Carmela N. SW 123, Prof.

Sina-on

2018 – 03193 19 September 2019

An Assessment of the Mini-series “Mga Batang Poz” with the Theories of Deviance

Following the stories of four gay teens faced with the problem of a life-changing disease,
Batang Poz is a mini-series that shakes the conservative culture and mainstream media of the country.
It strongly depicts the struggle of the gay community, more so those who are HIV+, in the Philippines,
an issue that for such a long time has been avoided like plague. In this context, to be gay is a deviant
act in the subjective form as it is the stigmatizing societal reactions that gives the label “deviant” to
those who come out as gay. Finding out an individual is HIV+, however, is both an objective and
subjective deviance, since having this disease would mean going against the safe medical practices
advised, e.g. wearing condoms, which eventually affects your conditions of being and barring you from
being the ideal person the society expects. Subjective in the sense that when people find out that an
individual is HIV+, one will be labeled deviant and problematic. To cope up with their “deviance”, the
teens are part of a support group named Love is Brave that brought them together and gave them the
opportunity to tell their stories and express who they are without being afraid of the things people would
say.

In this paper, I will discuss the characters one by one and assess their situation with regards to
the theories of deviance we have tackled. First up in the storyline is Luis who came from a Chinese
family that is strict with their culture. Just with that setting of having the social control to instill and
maintain their traditions, to go against his family’s orders would mean committing deviance. His brother
was subject to this judgment as he was nearing the age of thirty but still would not settle down with his
girlfriend. To grow up gay in this conservative and unbending environment would mean not confirming
to the norms that were established. And so, Luis had to keep his gender identity a secret. Throughout
his episode, he went and had unprotected sex with different guys he met in his alter account where he
got the disease. As his problems were piling up, his brother comes out of the closet and leaves home.
Applying Merton’s types of modes of adaptation, Luis’ brother underwent rebellion wherein once he
came out, he finally had the chance to replace the goals his dad expected of him and his means to do
the new goals was to go through transitioning. It became harder for Luis to come out to his parents
because all the burden was now on his shoulders as the only remaining son in the family. He eventually
admitted it at the end of the series, and his mom supported him and even went with him when he was
kicked out of their house.

For the second character dealt with in the show, Enzo is whom people call a “hipon,” tapon ulo
and kain katawan. He felt unwanted by his parents because they wanted him to transfer to a public
school whilst his brother stays in a private one. Carrying this negative feeling, he is active in his alter
account and posts lewd stuff in there that gets the attention of many people. One can say that this
behavior of his would fall into Merton’s Innovator as Mode of Adaptation as Enzo was achieving his
goal of gaining attention but through means that are not accepted by the society. Het men a guy named
RJ who wanted to meet him and make videos with him for the sake of likes in their alter account. RJ is
part of a secret deviance due to the fact that he has a boyfriend who he was cheating on with different
guys he met on his alter account. We can also view this in the perspective of Social Bonding Theory,
specifically commitment and attachment. RJ’s commitment is low that he could do this to his boyfriend
and risk losing him. Furthermore, RJ’s attachment to his boyfriend at some point became low resulting
for him to turn to deviant ways. The boyfriend finds out about this setup, does not lash out harshly on
them, and is recruited to go on a threesome. They find out later on that RJ is HIV+ risking the both of
them with the disease. Enzo, who has fallen deeply in love with RJ, would become a stalker as RJ and
his boyfriend goes out of town and into Baguio. The reason why Enzo joined Love is Brave is to find
out RJ’s whereabouts, even if he was not HIV+ himself. He lied to the group that trusted him resulting
for them to fight at some point in the near end. They smooth everything out, though, and he finally
accepts that he has to move on and admit to everyone he has lied to that he was not HIV+, even to his
parents. At the final scene, he becomes in a relationship with Luis and is finally, wholeheartedly
accepted by his family.

Next up was Kenneth, whose story really shook me to the core as it was unfolding until the
end. He basically introduced himself as Gab, his best friend whom he loved so much. He tricked the
group with his identity and I think this was a really good plot twist. But back to the story, it came to a
point that he could not hide his feelings anymore and so he confessed, and one thing led to another. Gab
had a girlfriend that he really loved despite his now sexual relationship with Kenneth. Gab then found
out that he was HIV+ and got it from Kenneth who had sex with different guys who he met in his alter.
He claimed that he was drugged by those men when it happened. Gab’s girlfriend found out about this
and had herself checked, and it turned out positive. The pressure, guilt, and sadness were heavy on
Gab’s shoulders that he chose to commit suicide. Kenneth implicitly became a factor of why his best
friend, Gab, killed himself. This act of ending his life may be applied in Durkheim’s Anomie Theory,
wherein everything was happening at once, there was a sudden breakdown of norms for Gab that led to
his aspirations and goals to become out of hand. Their story really made me feel such a rollercoaster of
emotions.

The first scene in Chuchay’s story is a great example of crime is deviance, wherein him and his
mom stole from the church offering which clearly violates the formal laws and informal norms existing
in the country. It actually gets worse from here. Due to the hard life brought about by poverty, Chuchay
succumbs to the evil and exploitative hands of his pedophiliac boss. This is where the status-frustration
theory may come in, as Chuchay does deviant activities in the pursuit of material things. Or Merton’s
Innovator as Mode of Adaptation since Chuchay accepts the goal of having material things but does it
through rejected means. It does not excuse his molester, though, who took advantage of this situation.
This monster of a man’s actions are Crime as Deviance because the things he did were violations of the
formal law and informal norms. This rapist was eventually killed by the father of one of his victims,
and this deviant act of killing may be seen through the perspective of Neutralization Theory under the
technique Denial of Victim, as the father kept on saying how the rapist deserved it for everything he
has done to the child.

Some of my cents about the mini-series. I liked the film overall. I can relate to it in some level
because I have gay friends who are open to sex and would tell me stories of their escapades. I would
always tell them to go and have fun but to never forget to practice safe and protected sex, and would
even give them condoms if they needed some. In this day and era, you can never fully trust strangers –
or even your friends. I was glad also that there was a warning at the start of the show, both by Ate Annie
and by the writers, notifying that there would be graphics that might make me uncomfortable while
watching. What I did not like in this series was how some of the parents were portrayed. Yes, it really
comes to a point that your parents would make fun of your gender identity and joke about it insensitively
(e.g. Chuchay’s father) or them reacting like you have the plague because you are HIV+ (e.g. Enzo’s
mother), it just saddens me that this is still prevalent in the Filipino community and it angers at the same
time how we still have a long way to go to get out of this conservative system because we lack of sex
education and gender sensitivity training. Maybe I did not like it because it is the reality. I have to accept
this and later on fight for what should be and what should not be. Philippines still has a long way to go
with regards to this issue, but I want to believe that in time, we will get there. I do not know when
exactly, but I know that we will. And as what the end credits of each episode says,

“Love yourself. Protect the people around you. Get tested, and if you are positive, get treated.”