Ang Pelikula Bilang Isang Pagninilay-nilay: Studying Power Relations in

Heterosexual versus Queer Relations in the Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975)

Monica Sofia S.A. Chu

Department of Communication Research, University of the Philippines Diliman

CRes 105: Technical Writing in Communication Research

Inst. Czekaina Esrah A. Rapanot

Date of Submission

28 November 2023
 Revised Research Question and Objectives

Research Question

How do power relations operate, if any, in the different depictions of heterosexual and queer

romantic and sexual relations in Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975)?

Objectives

Using Lino Brocka’s Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975), this study aims to:

1. Explore depictions of the following in heterosexual and queer romance separately:

a. gendered expectations and norms;

b. behaviors in social interactions;

2. Compare and contrast these expectations, norms, and behaviors between heterosexual and

queer relations; and,

3. Discover the power relations, if any, in heterosexual and queer relations respectively,

according to:

i. the factors that cause individuals to feel powerful relative to others;

ii. the communication processes that result from that experience of power;

and,

iii. the outcomes for both the relationship and the individuals within it.
 Review of Related Literature

Marginalization has always compromised the visibility of certain identities and cultures.

The depictions of marginalized identities, through the standpoints of the oppressed, have the

possibility to disrupt dominant cultures and patterns. Alternate gazes, like the female or queer

gazes, can document female and queer cultures outside of the dominant paradigm of the male

gaze. These cultures can be explored through depictions of romance and sex, and with higher

visibility, comes power.

Dissecting Film Depictions: Dialogue, Focalization, and Mise-en-scène

In studying power dynamics, one can look to language and discourse. The conversations

between characters in a film can tell the audience a lot about their personalities, and even

intentions, motivations, and desires. Essentially, dialogue can reveal the inner layers of a film

character. Rozzaq et al. (2016) used critical discourse analysis to study power relations in the

film, The Judge (2014) and found that certain words and phrases can signify using characters as

a means of one, control, and two, threaent. The language used between two characters has the

ability to “manipulate people” because “language has power in it” (p. 9). Using dialogue,

characters can win, control, and threaten. The author broke down the lines of dialogue between

the characters to see which words signify motivations to exert power or threaten, like the tone of

a certain phrase, the implied meaning, et cetera. This study is useful in deepening the

understanding of how the dialogue between two or more characters can shape who holds the

power and who does not.

Besides dialogue, studying film also requires the analysis of focalization. Focalization, in

my own understanding, is the perception of narratives that are subjective and relative to the

narrator or other characters in a story. In other words, this is what eye a story is told through,
how one sees the world in a relative sense–the focal point. The treatment of a character in the

film, what is given focus, is key in understanding the intention of the narrative. The focalization

dictates what the audience perceives, intentionally done by the director to emphasize certain

plotlines, characters, and sequences. Terry (2018) understood focalization as the mechanism to

concentrate the viewer’s curiosity through close-up shots and scenes that construct the film

characters in a more dynamic and nuanced way. In this international study, the author examined

depictions of black female characters and their marginality as a product of a Eurocentric society.

It was asserted that the marginality of these black female characters is “produced and reproduced

through invisibility” (p. 1).

Lastly, mise-en-scène, is a French term used to analyze the setting and scenery in film.

The setting that the characters are set in is also important. (Still need to add to this.)

The analysis of these three film elements in particular provides key insights into why

films are the way they are, why scenes are shot a certain way, why certain sequences are longer

than others, why characters are blocked or framed in a certain way, et cetera. It is critical to

understand the intention of the filmmaker behind what the viewer is seeing on the screen.

However, what then?

The Visibility of Queer Identities in Philippine Cinema

Beyond the confines of the film screen, stories and narratives have a place in social

realities. After all, cinema can be argued to be the medium that can reflect the social and political

realities of certain groups, cultures, and even entire societies. The bakla in Philippine cinema has

developed from being invisible to relatively visible in the film industry. The popularity of queer

characters in film has been shaped by mostly comic or treatment.

 (still have to add discussion on the development of depictions of queer identities in

Philippine cinema).

Gay characters had high visibility during the Marcos dictatorship era, "the most

prominent body of work being Brocka's tackling of homosexuality at regular intervals: from his

early Tubig sa GInto (1971) to Ang Tatay Kong Nanay (1978), including the peripheral gay

characters in Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag (1975),” and more (David, 2012). These

included depictions of homosexuality that were real and nuanced. Queer characters, in the body

of Brocka’s works, were treated to a more realistic, and even sympathetic depiction. Depictions

that put gay characters in the foreground were subversive in the eyes of the mainstream film

industry, especially in an otherwise heteronormative milieu. The Marcos regime, on several

accounts, (Benjamin, 2023; David, 2012; David, 1990), harbored the emergence of the presumed

Second Golden Age of Philippine Cinema. This study demonstrates Brocka’s works, pushing for

the visibility of gay identities, came with reactions from the industry, audiences, and eventually,

changes in how the audience perceives the gay character.

The Alternate Gaze: Queering Identities in Film

The construction of gender and queerness is not a single concept, but a social

construction shaped by the sustained fluctuations in central societal forces concerning politics,

economics, social spheres, and economics (Jackson, 2011 as cited in Nuñez, 2016). The concept

of “othering” is also critical in this discussion of film gazes. In the context of a film, this is the

treatment of a character that alienates, stereotypes, and discriminates relative to the other

characters in the film, usually belonging to a powerful group. For instance, queer characters can

be othered by focalizing the heteronormative characters by trimming sequences, removing

important contexts, or the intentional misrepresentation of these marginalized characters. In

simple terms, this refers to painting these characters in a negative light, or not even bothering to

“paint the picture” in the first place. (Still need to add.)

Synthesis

This review of related literature showed how film depictions have shaped

conceptualizations of queer identities and how these depictions have been broken down in

previous studies. Looking for power dynamics in film requires a nuanced understanding. Overall,

there have been many studies on marginalized identities in cinema, both locally and

internationally. However, a noticeable literature gap was the dissection of power in the context of

romance and sex, especially relative to heteronormative versus homonormative relationships, in

film. Power has been understood in past studies relative to race, socio-economic class, and other

demographics, however, when it comes to romance, there is still more to discover.

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