How Filipino ‘bakla’ culture perfected the art of being seen
If you are adept in American Gen Z culture, you might have heard the term “aura” making the rounds. Gen Z aura means having a significant charm or a powerful attraction. Of course, Filipinos have used the term for at least a decade. Most notably, Filipino bakla culture has cultivated “Aura” to assemble oneself and then project a sense of presence that demands to be seen.
Aura is a refusal to be invisible, to be omitted, to be meek.
Decades before the bakla aura, you have the bongga, but that is a blank statement for extravagance, flamboyance, and being fabulous. Bongga does not emanate solely on personal appearance. Aura is not just a static image but a series of actions such as preening, sashaying, and throwing knowing glances. Aura is a performance not just for adulation but an affirmation of self-actuality: you become what you build, so to speak. That is Aura power.
Arguably, the bakla culture owes a lot of this fabulous comportment to the film women contrabidas (villains), particularly the glamorous women who are the opposite of the cute, dainty, mousy, and charming leading ladies who are supposed to be virtuous and decent. The contrabida always makes a grand entrance, demanding to be seen.
The true power of the bakla aura is the knowledge that you are being gazed upon and that you know you are gaining much attention and ham it up. Among the stellar contrabida in the pantheon is the late great Bella Flores, in whose 1951 print ad you can see the emergence of the Aura power.
In this ad, the selling proposition is that a film star is confident that her close-ups would be stellar because of this soap. She is comfortable with her close-ups, and that is precisely the goal of the bakla aura, wherein you demand to be seen and that the gaze must be held for a more extended period. This approach to being seen is classified as camp, a mode of exaggeration.
Culturally speaking, many gay men have this affinity for the contrabidas because of the latter’s transgressive, and campy status of being hated or of being feared. The contravidas have a certain flair and a more pronounced sense of style.
Aura is this energy emanating from the self, not in the form of chakras but in the form of defiance from being marginalized. Aura is an implement of extending oneself on one’s terms to become even more visible.
Bella Flores’ eyebrows and how she tilts her head as she throws that withering glance are almost counterintuitive for a soap ad. The fresh ingenues are usually bright and sprightly if you look at the ads for beauty products for generations.
From the 1951 ad, you can assume that Bella Flores does not giggle and does not suffer any fools. Look at Bella Flores’ brooch. It can be classified as a weapon. That’s Aura power right there.
You may reach Chong Ardivilla at kartunistatonto@gmail.com or chonggo.bsky.social
