Paris is Burning
We recently watched the film Paris is Burning, a documentary about black drag queens in Harlem and their culture surrounding balls. Directly related we also read two feminist critiques, Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion by Judith Butler and Is Paris Burning by bell hooks. Two areas of critique I focus on and question are the critiques regarding the filmmaker, audience and drag queens and how they participate to reinforce a heterosexual racist patriarchy. Furthermore I ask if this line of investigation is the most beneficial way to view and understand the film and its various participants.
By dissecting the film, the director, Jennie Livingston's methodology and the audience's perceived response I believe we can easily ignore a different and more positive way of understanding the film despite the many flaws easy for feminist minds to criticize. This is in no way saying that these critiques are not valid, or that it is not beneficial to look at works of any form through the many and various feminist lenses.
However, one cannot lose sight of the humanity within the film. The spectacles of the balls themselves intimately show a mirage of human emotions including passion, desire, joy, humor, grace, and delight. The featured men willingly share the pleasure they feel through participation in the balls with us, the watching audience. They attempt to describe the exhilaration of being able to "become anything and do anything." (1.)
We, the audience, are entertained and interested by the interviews, the balls and the featured persons. bell hooks sees audience enjoyment as exploitative and says, "...It is this current trend in producing colorful ethnicity for the white consumer appet...
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...f nobody could say or write or film or paint anything about anybody else but themselves and their exact demographic group. What a dull fucking world that would be." (8.)
Citations
1. Dorian Carey. "Paris is Burning"
2. bell hooks. "Black Looks". Pg 153 & 154.
3. bell hooks. "Black Looks". Pg 153
4. Judith Butler. "Bodies That Matter". Pg 136
5. Judith Butler. "Bodies That Matter". Pg 135 & 136
6. bell hooks. "Black Looks". Chapter 9
7. Dorian Carey. "Paris is Burning".
8. Ed Sikov. Email commentary in regards to "Paris is Burning".
Bibliography
Butler, Judith. "Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'". New York. Routledge. 1993
hooks, bell. "Black Looks: Race and Representation". Boston, MA. South End Press. 1992
Livingston, Jennie. "Paris is Burning". Los Angeles. Off White Productions. Distributed by Orion Home Video. 1992
If you want a community interest story portrayed through a film, then Centralia Fire is the one. Centralia Fire relates to anyone that is connected to at least one type of community—weather it is a town, a sport’s team, or a family. No one wants to be forced out of his or her comfort zone.
Butler, Judith. "Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion." Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge, 1993. 121-140.
Irigaray, Luce. “That Sex Which is Not One.” The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. Ed. David H. Richter. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 1467-1471.
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Paris Is Burning is a 1990 American documentary film by Jennie Livingston about the the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it. Shortly after the film was released, many criticized both Livingston and her work, including Bell Hooks and Jackie Goldsby. While Hooks and Goldsby both reach the conclusion that there are some things Livingston could have done differently, Goldsby's analysis is far deeper and less biased than Hooks’ which relies more on personal conjecture rather than factual evidence. I will first discuss Hooks’ argument about the issues of race as well as Goldsby’s slightly different argument about the terminology and imagery in the film. I will then discuss the similarities and differences between their arguments such as their focuses and their views on Livingston. Afterwards, I will conclude with my insight on both of their arguments and Paris is Burning.
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Abrams 1604 - 1606. Peterson, Linda H. "What Is Feminist Criticism?" Wuthering Heights. Ed. Linda H. Peterson, Ph.D. Boston: Bedford Books, 1992.
Blackledge, Catherine. "The Function of the Orgasm." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 272-84. Print.
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