Tuesday, June 5, 2007

After watching “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros”, thoughts flooded my mind. What was on my mind was actually not about the journal entry that we’ll be required to do, I was thinking if this exact story could be true. Yes, it is fictional but what made me think about that is that, would the family of a gay preteen accept him for what he is?

Maxi’s experiences differed from experiences from a heterosexual male preteen. As he is established as a gay from the start of the movie until the end, his actions and reactions to everyday life is more of a typical reaction of a female. He is the nurturer in the family of 4, all male. Because of the absence of a mother-figure in the family, Maxi became the mother-figure missing in the family. Maxi’s character sort of balanced the family full of male. As what nurture is defined in the power point in class, one learns gender from his/her culture through socialization. As I see it, Maxi became what he is because of the absence of his father and brothers. He was left to neighbors who are female and sort of “inherited” what they were doing, saying, and wearing. Maxi was a nurturer but he was still “macho” inside. He stood up for his brothers and father. He still saw them as good people despite the fact that they were really the bad guys.

Of course, in our society, we only have a little tolerance for gayness. But what was surprising was that Maxi’s family embraced his gayness and accepted him for what he is. I guess his family saw that if Maxi was as aggressive as they were, no one would prepare dinner for them or at least take care of them after a day’s work. Traditionally, we see men as the worker not the nurturer. Many men are still in the work area but slowly women are also joining in the workforce. Based from the movie, the whole outfit of Maxi would be the one a female of his age – baby t-shirts, colorful clips, short shorts, and headbands. Most of the straight males would probably do some thing else just to not wear those things. They consider it degrading to their masculinity. Traditionally, females also would not wear men’s clothes since it is not lady-like and their parents would see to it that their daughters and sons wear the appropriate attire for them. Another thing, men would not prepare food for their family. It is the duty of the females in the house. It is the duty of the females to prepare food, clean the house, and do the laundry. But that was the traditional way. Nowadays, men would prepare food for their family, do the laundry, and clean the house. The distribution of house chore is now balanced since both sexes are now members of the workforce.

Biologically, Maxi is still a man. He still has the external genitalia a male has. But that is only the preliminary measure. Hormonal activity may play a role why he is gay. He may have estrogen flowing in his veins together with testosterone. One or two scenes from the movie, Maxi was picked on by his brothers and said, “meron ka no?” every time his mood swings. But in reality, men also have hormonal cycles which could affect the men’s mood/behavior.

In the end, Maxi is still man even though he acts, dresses and talks like a female. Good for him his family accepts him for who he is. It is inspiring for those who want to get out of the closet. I could repeat watching that movie and still be awed by it. It really deserves the awards it got in the past and would be getting in the near future.