A Reaction on the Papers of Marjorie Flora Uy Maristela & Vera Malanyaon on Fenella Cannell's "Power of Appearances:Beauty,Mimicry & Transformation..

A Reaction on the Papers Presented by Marjorie Flora Uy Maristela and Vera Malanyaon on Fenella Cannell’s “Power of Appearances: Beauty, Mimicry, and Transformation in Bicol

In Vera Malanyaon’s paper, she vividly shared Fenella Cannell’s description of the amateur singing contests, as well as the Mrs. Calabanga and Ms. Gay Calabanga contests. She explained that in the amateur singing contests, the desire to be a part of America through the rendition of songs is apparent, while the Mrs. Calabanga pageant is more of a fund-raising activity for the church. Her elaboration was concentrated on the glamorization of the bakla in the Ms. Gay Calabanga beauty contest where the gays were “transforming themselves into the American superstar who made a lot of money, looked glamorous and was beautiful”[i]

I just think she over-emphasized the fact that the bakla “can never transform themselves into real women whatever arts they exercise”. [ii] Though she has fully established that the bakla only pretended to be like women, as she has mentioned that they only “aim to look like women”[iii] , that they “imitated closely how real women took care of themselves”, “mastered how to make themselves look like real women” , that they “only pretended to be women”, and that “success brought happiness to the bakla because of the feeling that they were women and stars” [iv], she has twice reiterated that “the bakla will always be overshadowed by the fact that they can never become real women”[v], and that “I find the Ms. Gay beauty pageant very interesting because they aim to look like women and even go boyfriend-hunting but the truth is they will never become real women”[vi].

I agree that “the colonial mentality of the Filipino which makes the Americans the standard for everything”[vii] is not beneficial, however, I find the statement “the Western culture in the country isn’t beneficial because it undermines the Filipino culture”, rather sweeping. Then she goes on to say that “But this is all very ironic because I have the opportunity to go to the United States. I am going there because I believe that this opportunity will not come again and I am ready to exploit the resources of America in the same way that they have exploited ours”[viii] This rather vague to me. Maybe I’m just too dense to understand how this actually will come about, or maybe, like me, she just sometimes flies off with some “oh well this is what I want to do, the end” conclusions.

Regarding Marjorie Flora Uy Maristela’s paper, I think she also did great in her presentation of Fenella Cannell’s paper. Clearly she illustrated the goings-on in the contests and in the “amateuran”, as well as the desire “to face the unattainable America, to be a part of the American culture for just a short time in the product of their imagination”[ix], and to “bridge the gap between the Western style and Bicolano realities”[x].

What was interesting was that in her presentation, she also shared her personal experience as an “insider” in the beauty and fashion industry, as well as her being a sister of two gay brothers. She also showed pictures of her brother in gay beauty pageants, at the same time sharing the sacrifices of a gay byuconera(one who actively joins beauty pageants)[xi] to attain a degree of femininity which can be mystifying.

What is more commendable though is her going beyond Canell’s paper by interviewing her brothers and friends on being gay. It somehow presents a clearer picture that we actually know in our hearts and in our minds, but seldom, if at all, think about:

“That at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re a man, a woman, a lesbian, or a homosexual. The fact that we[‘]re part of the human race, then we[‘]re all worthy of love, respect and acceptance.”[xii]

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[i] Malanyaon, Vera. “Paper for the Essay by Fenella Cannell entitled ‘The Power of Appearances:Beauty, Mimicry, and Transformation”. P.3.
[ii] Cannell, Fenella. “Beauty, Mimicry and Transformation in Bicol”. Discrepant Histories: Translocal Essays in Phlippine Cultures(Vicente Rafael,ed). P. 251.
[iii] Malanyaon, Vera. P.2.
[iv] Ibid p.4.
[v] Malanyaon, Vera. P. 5
[vi] Ibid.p.6.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] Ibid.p.7.
[ix] Maristela, Marjorie Flora Uy. “The Power of Appearances: Beauty, Mimicry, and Transformation in Bicol, Fenella Cannell”. P.1
[x] Ibid.
[xi] Maristela, Marjorie Flora Uy. P.2.
[xii] Ibid.p.3.