Transgression and celebration: The lyrics of Arvin Mangohig in the Gaze

• Main Author: Go, Christian Albert G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2008
• Subjects: Homosexuality; Homosexuality > Philippines; Gays > Philippines; Lesbians > Philippines; Gay and lesbian studies; Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2284
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper studies seven lyrics of Arvin Abejo Mangohig from his collection. Tha Gaze. Through Jonathan Dollimore's theory of sexual dissidence and Neil Garcia's Philippine gay theory, the study shows how transgression is present in the poems. Applying this framework, the study carefully examines the content, particularly the lyric speaker as well as the poetic situation and determines how these are utilized by the poet in his attempt to transgress the hetero-patriarchal culture. The study notes that Mangohig's poetry attempts a Gide-esque transgression through its deviant identifications with the dominant, appropriating heterosexual discourse, which is expressed through several key elements namely, sex, the imagery of darkness, the ambiguity of the persona's identity. In addition, the poet refashions the master narrative of homosexual relations, in which homosexuals engage in relationships with other homosexuals though in the end they remain as martyrs. In this manner, the poet is able to challenge and provide resistance towards fixed understandings and definitions of love and sexuals desire that are constricting.