DarLentina: The Queer Agenda

DarLentina

Darna 2022

Queer

DarLentina Fever is On!

Lance Jordan Escober

December 3, 2022

Since its release in 1950, Darna, created by Filipino cartoonist Mars Ravelo, has always been highly anticipated by the Filipino community. With over 14 film adaptations and four (4) TV series, this story, which originated as a comic, is surely an iconic hit. Fans are always on the lookout for Darna and Valentina’s rivalry, citing that this is one of the most exciting duels between a local superhero and a local supervillain. However, with the recent TV series adaptation of this story, the trend seemed to have shifted.

Surprisingly, instead of people looking forward to Darna and Valentina’s fight scenes, casual viewers get giddy over Narda and Regina’s (Darna and Valentina’s alter egos, played by Jane de Leon and Janella Salvador, respectively) intimate moments—even going to the extent of shipping them. This is a departure from the norm, as previous Darna adaptations have been known to divide those who only support Darna and Valentina. These people even clash with each other. As the modern pop culture tagline suggests, this series is known to ignite "fandom wars." However, for some reason, the two opposing teams have joined forces in today’s Darna adaptation to support the protagonist and the archnemesis. As they gained audiences and supporters, a fanbase was then established under the pen name "DarLentina."

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SOURCE: Narda Custodio (@waterloopies) / Twitter

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SOURCE: #janellasalvador tags / TikTok

SOURCE: Darna JDL (@jdl22fanatic) / Instagram

SOURCE: Darna JDL (@jdl22fanatic) / Instagram

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The DarLentina wave keeps on emerging, and even casual viewers seem to ride the tide. Numerous fan pages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok were created especially for them. A series of fan edits, Twitter trending parties, alternate universe stories, and even mock trailers are made to push the DarLentina agenda. Their TikTok fan edits reach millions of likes and views in a matter of 24 hours, and they have been consistently dominating the Twitter trending list as well as the Facebook and TikTok timelines. Imagine how crazy that is! Now, if that is crazy to you, I bet you would not believe this: fans got so passionate about DarLentina that they put up two LED billboard projects along EDSA. Putting up such a fan project can be costly, but the supporters did it all for the love. Having that said, it is safe to say that the DarLentina ship has been sailing smoothly both in social media and in the real world.

However, behind this Darlinglentina fever lies a very serious matter. In recent times, actors and actresses who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community have been asking for representation in the mainstream media. When they say representation, they mean genuine representation—with real-life lesbians and gays playing lesbian and gay roles, respectively. With the trend of "sapphics" in the mainstream media, or the act of pushing a female villain and a female hero for a romantic agenda, one question arises: Is DarLentina intentionally queerbaiting people, or are the fans just filled with delusion?

For the record, both Darna and Valentina are playing straight women in the TV series. However, fans take out some breadcrumbs of their intimate interactions and make fan edits from them in order to push their DarLentina "lesbian" agenda. I could not blame these fans, as scenes from Darna are borderline romantic and platonic—something that cannot be seen from the past Darna adaptations. Could it be that the production team of this film is adapting to the changing trend in films where villains and protagonists are known to be close friends before becoming rivals? Or could it be that they have seen a huge potential market through these DarLentina shippers, which is why they are producing Darna and Valentina scenes that are borderline romantic and platonic?

Well, one thing is for sure: society has become more progressive and accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community, as evidenced by the "DarLentina" ship. Whatever the reality behind the whole DarLentina agenda is, the bottom line is that it gives joy to many LGBTQIA+ members, and both Janella Salvador and Jane de Leon are supportive of that.

SOURCE: #janellasalvador tags / Tiktok

SOURCE: anya; wn era (@Bb_manita) / Twitter

SOURCE: czarina (@iiinah08) / Twitter