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Article published In: Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
Vol. 35:2 (2025) ► pp.157–183

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(In)visibility matters

Reappropriating stigma in Filipino HIV and AIDS trope through Kapwa and Hiya

ORCiD logo with link | Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Published online: 12 September 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.25015.gam
Abstract
Existing scholarship demonstrates that international films portraying human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) often distort the realities and social values of people living with HIV or AIDS (PLHAs) through stigmatizing representations. I used semiotic analysis to examine how the HIV and AIDS trope is presented in two Filipino media texts from the past decade: Kalel, 15 (2019) and Positive (2013). My research draws on Barthes’s rhetorical strategies as a theoretical framework to analyze how the sampled texts, functioning as a double-edged sword, legitimize or deconstruct hegemonic narratives such as pangmamata (stigma) and pagsasantabi (discrimination). I propose two additional strategies (i.e., antagonization and dissension) that emphasize explicit and confrontational portrayals intended to incite negative emotions toward minorities or even fellow viewers, in contrast to Barthes’s subtler mechanisms. The paper concludes by unpacking the significations embedded in the sampled texts and reappropriating HIV destigmatization through the lens of indigenous Filipino values, particularly kapwa (shared identity) and hiya (sense of propriety). Importantly, this research’s findings highlight the need for a collective commitment to inclusive, equitable, and decolonized understanding of PLHAs in popular media.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Stigmatizing media portrayals and public perceptions
    • Unearthing the Filipino HIV and AIDS ideologies
    • The Plight of Kalel and Carlo
    • Barthesian Semiotics
    • Mythmaking Strategies
  • Methodology
    • Units of analysis
    • Data analysis
    • Positionality and Reflexivity
    • Ethical considerations
  • Findings and discussion
    • Pangmamata and pagsasantabi: A commodified narrative
      • a.Exoticized deviants
      • b.Gay sex as “flirting with HIV”
      • c.Women in the shadows
      • d.Survival as a privilege
      • e.Alone in the crowd
    • Significations of HIV and AIDS
    • Continuity and shifts in local HIV and AIDS trope
      • a.Vilification of PLHAs
      • b.Fomenting division
      • c.Proposed rhetorical strategies
      • d.Narratives of defiance
    • Recentering Filipino sociocultural lens in HIV destigmatization
      • a.Hiya and Kapwa: Filipino perspectives on human connection
      • b.HIV and AIDS destigmediatization
  • Conclusion
  • References
References (90)
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