Abstract This article examines how Philippine teleseryes regulate male vulnerability through affective silencing—the displacement of emotional pain through humor, ridicule, or moralized endurance. Using Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), we analyze Ang Probinsyano, Maria Clara at Ibarra, Destiny Rose, and Batang Quiapo to show how narratives reproduce hegemonic pagkalalaki grounded in duty, restraint, and Catholic familism. Vignette-based interviews with 11 young male viewers illustrate how these portrayals shape everyday affective expression. Findings show that vulnerability becomes legible only when framed as redemptive or morally justified, reflecting a cultural logic rooted in colonial and religious norms. We argue that teleseryes function as affective infrastructures that regulate whose emotions are narratively legitimate. Advancing affective silencing as a Global South concept, the study complicates Western accounts of masculinity and contributes to debates on affective justice.
Asis et al. (Tue,) studied this question.