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queermediastudies · 2 years

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Paris is Burning: the Fabulous and the Ugly of Queer POCs in the Shadow of NYC

"Ball is like crossing into the looking glass, a wonderland. You go in there and you feel 100% right of being gay."

Directed by Jennie Livingston in 1990, Paris is Burning follows the Ballroom culture that originated in NYC, an underground LGBTQ+ subculture, where African-American, Latino gay men, and transgender folks "walk" in drag and attend performance competitions to win cash prizes and trophies in categories like “Face,” “Femme Queen Realness,” and "Voguing." In the 1980s of New York City, queer POCs were extremely ostracized due to their sexuality and race, they struggled in the dark ghetto of this metropolitan area, while the Ballroom community offered them a shelter to be their authentic selves. Most participants of Ballroom belong to groups known as "houses." Folks could choose their own "mother" and siblings who accept them and love them, for being gay. What's more, Voguing became queer POCs' distinct way of self-expression. Dancers act in different poses, with an emphasis on the movements of arms and body, just like the model on the cover page of the magazine Vogue. And it is all about confidence and self-love. In this sense, Ballroom became an identity celebration of the oppressed, the exiled, and the outcast, where queer folks of color find status, acceptance, and worth.

Regarding the documentary itself, I argue that Paris is Burning breaks into the mainstream media with its groundbreaking representation of black gays and trans people of color and its disclosure of the intersectional oppressions faced by queer POCs; however, the representation of "performance competitions" is still constrained in the frame of gender performativity, and the production of it is criticized as an appropriation of Ballroom culture by a privileged white filmmaker.

Here is a trailer to have an overview of this documentary.

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Part 1: About Intersectionality

The biggest message Paris is Burning brings to the table is intersectionality, where it captures black gays and trans people of color as well as their subculture. Queer theory actively acknowledges the importance of queer of color critiques. That is, oppression on various aspects of identity intertwines and compounds together, such as sexuality, gender, race, age, class, and ableness. And each oppressive institution (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.) cannot be examined separately from one another. Queer folks of color are being ostracized and marginalized not only within larger society but also in the queer community, meaning that they face multiple oppressions. And it is true. A gay man of color in the documentary said, "I remember my dad used to say, 'you have three strikes against you in the world. You are black, a male, and you are gay; you are going to have a hard fuckin' time.'"

Tracing back the history of Ballroom culture, we also see the significance of intersectionality through its origin. Black and Latino drag queens used to experience racism in established drag queen pageant circuits. Although participants were racially integrated, the judges were almost all white. Since then, drag queens of color have begun to organize their own pageants, the Ball. In that case, Ball culture becomes a retrospective symbol of the era when queer people of color underwent discrimination from multiple sources.

Venus Xtravaganza, a trans woman in the documentary, whose murder reveals the very dark and brutal side of intersectional oppression. Venus, an Italian-American, was saving up money for gender confirmation surgery while earning a living as a sex worker after she was excluded by her family. However, her dead body was found at a hotel on Christmas Day, 1988, during the documentary's shooting. But her killer was never found. In the documentary, she described the experience of being attacked by a man who discovered she was transgender during an intimate encounter. Hence, Xtravaganza's trans identity, multiraciality, homelessness, hustling, poor access to health care, and AIDS — all these aspects layered together contributed to the tragic end of this beautiful life.

Below is a clip about the self-narrative by Venus Xtravaganza.

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“The most profound and potentially the most radical politics come directly out of our own identity, as opposed to working to end somebody else's oppression" (Collective, 1983, p. 210). In other words, coping with oppression is inherently associated with identity politics, a deconstruction of identity and labels. What queer folks of color need are to be recognized as normal, equal, lively human beings.

Part 2: About Gender Performativity

It is undeniable that Paris is Burning is a milestone in portraying queer POCs, however, there are still some controversies. Firstly, the representation of "performance competition" still conforms to the tenet of gender performativity. To articulate that, we need to know the basic rules of competition in a given ball first. There are various "categories," or themes, for each competition, such as "Military," "School," "Executive Realness," "Butch Queen's First Time in Drag at a Ball," etc. And participants need to dress according to the guidelines of each category; for example, they wear “yacht wear," military garb, the outfits of private school kids, business attire, and extravagant dress to adhere to the rules.

Here is a clip from the documentary explaining "Categories."

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Overall, we can see these queer POCs parody their heterosexual counterparts. It seems effortless for them to perform high femininity or masculinity in a world of heterosexual folks. However, these "categories" also signify that they are still in a dichotomous system and perform binary genders.

Another category called "high fashion evening wear" required participants to dress and act as an elegant, beautiful young lady wearing an evening dress. Every participant was strictly required to have a purse. "An evening bag is a must, you have to carry something; no lady is sure at night." This kind of "norm" reminds me of the gender performativity theory by Judith Butler: gender is not something we are but something we do. However, due to the reliance on norms, we "do" genders through imitative performance, ultimately leading to extended repetition. In other words, we have no authentic gender.

The voiceover of the documentary said, "The more natural you are, the more credit your outfit is given." "Give people a sense that they are not gay, like a real woman or a real man." However, what is "natural" and what is "real"? What is even a category? As Judith Butler has argued, "we cannot necessarily assume that binary biological sex everywhere provides the universal basis for the cultural categories ‘male’ and ‘female’. If gender constructs are culturally variable, then so are the categories of sexual difference" (cited in Andresson, 2002, p. 6).

Being different is not a flaw, which is the spirit of the queer community. Unfortunately, the documentary did not highlight how queer people of color get rid of the constraints of the binary system or how they go against the mainstream, which makes it less queer.

Part 3: About the Production

Much of the controversy surrounding Paris is Burning has also centered on the perceived appropriation of a black gay subculture by a privileged white queer filmmaker for profits. Jennie Livingston is an American director. She graduated from Yale University in 1983, where she studied photography, drawing, and painting with a minor in English literature. "Whiteness" and the social status of an "ivy student" are critical privileges for Livingston. What's more, she identified herself as a lesbian. It seems Linviston's queerness helps her to enter the industry and tell stories about black gays and trans people of color even though she is not a part of the Ball community.

It is not surprising that the filmmaker's white view leads to stereotypical depictions of black folks in the documentary. For example, the "Banjee" competition features impersonations of the gum-chewing, round-the-way sexy girl on welfare or the crackhead gangbanger on the block. Besides that, Dorian Corey, an experienced drag queen, said in the documentary: "Black stars are stigmatized. Nobody want to look like Lena Horn, everybody wanted to look like Marilyn Monroe." This scene amplifies the drag queen's self-hatred, solidifying the admiration for whiteness among drags. But this kind of representation is biased.

"Too often, people with resources who already have a platform become the ones to tell the stories of those at the margins rather than people who themselves belong to these communities" (Tourmaline, 2017). We need to strive for a time when queer people of color have the opportunity and capital to shoot their own stories. “Power struggles over control of one’s image and access to the tools of media production were, and still are, crucial in communities of color” (Parkerson, 2020). Although the show Pose has made some breakthroughs by hiring trans characters and trans writers, it is hard to make any substantial change in this inherently racist, heterosexual, white male-dominant industry.

Moreover, the film made 4 million dollars, yet only $55,000 was distributed among the 13 performers. Performers felt cheated and were not satisfied with their representation in the documentary. In 2014, when the documentary was to be screened at a public event hosted by Celebrate Brookly! / BRIC, a protest was raised. In such circumstances, Livingston would apologize for the cultural appropriation to her own advantage.

Here is a clip showing the life of performers after the Paris is Burning.

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Final Thoughts

"Good or bad, Paris is Burning is a milestone in the gay community."

Considering my own subject positionality, as a straight, cisgender woman of color from China, I have to say that watching Paris is Burning is definitely a fascinating and eye-opening experience. Regardless of some of its biased representation, this documentary makes me take a glimpse of the Ballroom culture in NYC which has extended globally and influenced a lot of Chinese queer folks in recent years. I also get to know some drag queen shows becoming popular in underground clubs located in Shanghai and Beijing.

Meanwhile, I deeply resonate with this group of outcast New Yorkers, for whom racism, poverty, and homophobia are too real, too tough, while they create a world of sustenance and belongingness by themselves. It is all about the power they give to themselves. In the name of glory and pride, they dance, scream, suffer, survive, and most importantly, be themselves here. Ballroom culture makes them not stay in the shadow of NYC, but throw the shadow on those who demean them. All in all, Paris is Burning is the "fire this time."

References:

Andersson, Y (2002). “Queer Media?: Or; What Has Queer Theory to do with Media Studies?” IAMCR, 1-10.

Collective, C. R. (1983). The Combahee river collective statement. Home girls: A Black feminist anthology, 1, 264-274.

Martin, A. L. (2018, August 2nd). Pose(r): Ryan Murphy, Trans and Queer of Color Labor, and the Politics of Representation. LA Review of Books. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/poser-ryan-murphy-trans-queer-color-labor-politics-representation/

Parkerson, M. (2020, February 25th). Paris Is Burning: The Fire This Time. The Criteron Collection. https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6832-paris-is-burning-the-fire-this-time

By Selene

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principiumindividuationis777 · 2 months

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#Madonna Ciccone #Vogue #strike a pose #earrings #makeup #ball culture #campy #90s #music video #black and white #hair #iconic

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transepicene · 5 months

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French-born photographer and documentarist Chantal Regnault began documenting the house ballroom and voguing scene in the late 1980s, capturing it at its height between 1989-1992.

#ball culture #ballroom #history #photography #glamour #house culture #lgbt #lgbt history #trans history #trans excellence #1980s

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jamesabelc · 10 months

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With Chise and Sattva from the Iconic House of Ninja

#ballroom #chise #sattva #legendary #ball culture #fashion #icon

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theodorebasmanov · 2 years

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I’ve watched the third episode of the first season of “Pose”. It’s a Christmas episode – about all the Christmas stuff – presents, special events, family dinners and so on. Electra gets a huge change in her life – she’s offered “reassignment surgery” – to use a simpler language – vaginoplasty, but she needs money, so she and some of the members of her house rob some Christmas charity and while promising her girls presents, she pays all the money for her surgery. We get to see some much less pleasant events at the hospital. Pray Tell (Billy Porter’s character) visits his boyfriend and the dance teacher visits one of her best students. (Spoilers!) The next morning the student dies. This affects Damon almost directly because when he’s late to the dance lesson, he receives a tongue-lashing and gets kicked out until Blanca talks to the teacher again and then prohibits Damon going to the balls until he succeeds in his dance class and even though he’s furious at first, he agrees with her after all. Angel is pretty good at the dance floor and gets a prize on the Christmas ball, but isn’t that happy with her love life – Stan bought her a flat and promised to spend time with her and even come for at least an hour for Christmas. He even buys her a present… But then he doesn’t come and gives both presents to his wife after his boss came to his house while he was out, told his wife that Stan has a lover and tried to seduce her (but wasn’t successful in it), so on the Christmas morning Stan and his wife (her name is Patty) fight, but then he reveals both presents and tells that his boss isn’t the most honest person in the world (obviously) they reconcile. Angel, however, waited for him for almost the whole evening, but then joined her house and they had a nice family dinner everybody got the presents they wanted. The ending was very touching.

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nerdlifeisbetterthanreallife · 2 years

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#30DaysofPride: Day 7: Crystal LaBeija

Crystal in The Queen Today’s #30DaysofPride is Crystal LaBeijz—the mother of ballroom and founder of the house of LaBeija. In the 60s, Crystal began competing in the pageant circuit in Manhattan (a majority white female impersonation contest) the original name she was going by was Crystal LaAsia but changed it to LaBeija because Latinx queens were calling her “la Belleza”. She was featured in…

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#30DaysOfPride #activism #ball culture #ballroom #legendary #lgbt #LGBTQIA #pose #queer #queerhistory #trans #visibility #Vogue

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whitneystarheel84 · 3 months

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Butch realness

#balls #ball culture #queer balls #90s

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psychedelic-charm · 4 months

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youtube

#icona pop #all night #ballroom #ball culture #lgbtq community #absolut vodka #absolut tune #vogue #paris is burning #new your city #synth pop #lgbtqiia+#lgbt community #drag queen #rupaul's drag race #transgender #latino #gay #Youtube

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troutreznor · 3 months

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Carrie Being Made Up for the Ball, 1984.

photo & caption by Mariette Pathy Allen [website] [instagram]

#mariette pathy allen #house ball #ball culture #ballroom culture #drag #drag artist #queer #trans #transgender #vintage photography

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filth-thezine · 1 year

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Bizarre lookbook and inspo photos

#ballroom #bizarre #masks #ball culture

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cheekios · 7 days

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I will be homeless in less than 1 hours

I have to stress that my apartment wants me gone. Why you might ask? Because I’m one of the few tenants in the entire apartment complex that pays $1300 for rent meanwhile everyone else pays $1800-$1900. They want me out to the extent they don’t accept any late fees from me, but accepts from other residents. I asked the apartment manager why, she couldn’t give me answer. It’s the norm to have until the 5th of the month to pay rent but not for me.

Goal: $775

CA: $HushEmu

PP: [email protected]

I have to stress I’m not lazy or useless. I had a job despite having multiple disabilities. I’m not asking for a cookie or a pat on the back but its not easy. One small inconvenience really can set you up to be on the streets. Especially if you’re not privileged to have a good paying job with benefits. Like INSURANCE. Or parents that give a crap about you.

In my case the catalyst for this was simply my glasses breaking that snowballed me to eviction. I am legally blind and I have to thank diabetes for that. I cannot see without my glasses so it would be quite literally deadly for me to be on the roads. Ultimately I lost my job from “job abandonment”

I am asking for community support to stay housed. While I make this unfortunate transition. All I have is this community. There are ways beyond financial support that can help me. $1-$2 makes a significant impact

You can:

• Post on my behalf on all your platforms

• Urge your moots with large followings to reblog/retweet my posts

• You can interact fully with my posts to add traction

With the state of the world as it is right now. We need less apathy and more empathy. Please don’t ignore.

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mysticmonkiebusiness · 9 months

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The Yamcha Pose

#lego monkie kid #pop culture references #dragon ball #dragon ball z #dbz #mmb.png #photoset

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jamesabelc · 9 months

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Nunoy

#nunoy #nunoy johann #gay #fashion #itsmorefuninthephilippines #ballroom #ball scene #ball culture #legendary

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theodorebasmanov · 2 years

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I’ve watched the second episode of the first season of “Pose”. So, balls continue and so do the competitions continue too and our young house (Spoilers!) wins two times in a row and are very proud of it. Then one guy called Ricky invites Damon on a date and they walk on the pier, kiss and dance together, however, when Ricky starts touching Damon’s ass and Damon says he’s not ready Ricky backs up and agrees to go on another date. Unfortunately (or not), Damon’s dancing teacher offers him to go to a ballet at the same time and Damon decides that dancing is more important than love life. Damon crying in the ballet is just such a mood I also cry at the theatre a lot. Anyway, Ricky waits for him in vain and when Damon tries to talk to him later and apologize Ricky says that everything is over. However, next time Damon invites him to go to the theatre together Ricky agrees. Discrimination of transgender gay women of colour in a gay bar. That’s what happens to Blanca and she tries to fight against it and even skips a ball for that. Police, seriously?! White young gays call police on a trans woman?! Because Blanca didn’t show up on the ball and Electra (The leader of the house Blanca left in the first episode.) gets her out of prison. Angel continues her weird relationship with Stan, who finds her in some sex club… I’ve read about such a place in “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides. Where sex workers (mostly those considered “odd” as here – a transgender woman, or in the book where it also was a transgender woman and an intersexual person) are in glass boxes and entertain clients, who can watch, but not touch. Stan is pretty possessive over her and says that she loves her because she’s the only real person in his life. She offers her to buy her a place of her own. Funny thing is that he actually does! He asks for a bonus at work and his understanding boss (sarcasm) gives it to him on two conditions – telling the truth about his lover and working weekends when required. So, he buys a dishwasher for his wife and a flat for Angel. The ending with classical music and the montage was just perfect! (The dance itself, however, was the wrong one, because it was «In the Hall of the Mountain King» by Grieg and I’m not sure if ballet on this music even exists… Okay, I’ve checked, it does, but it looks nothing like we saw on stage at the end.)

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chaos-company · 2 months

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Angstpril 2024

Hi everyone!

It’s that time of year again! We are excited to announce that we are hosting the event again this year!

All prompts, FAQs and rules can be found in the graphics and below the cut!

Prompts:

1. homesick

2. frozen

3. broken-hearted

4. longing

5. rise from the ashes

6. this isn’t going to work

7. bad dreams

8. lost battle

9. trust issues

10. phantom pain

11. no way out

12. a little too late

13. learning the truth

14. surrender

15. confrontation

16. cry for help

17. last chance

18. left behind

19. trembling

20. broken

21. faking a smile

22. drained

23. swept away

24. the ghost of you

25. cold shoulder

26. grief

27. panicked

28. never see you again

29. betrayal

30. the last time

Alt Prompts:

1. troubled mind

2. not strong enough

3. you were never mine

4. the night we met

5. mental scars

6. miscommunication

7. jealousy

8.rock and a hard place

9. emotionally distant

10. paranoid

Rules

All posted content must be your original content. The use of AI for creation of any kind is prohibited.

All tags must be utilized in order to be reblogged. NOTE: the mods are human beings, so not all works will automatically be reblogged, even if all tagging is correct.

Any art form is acceptable, including original writing, gif sets and fan art.

FAQs

“Do I have to create for all thirty days?”

- Not at all! Feel free to jump in whenever you’d like. This is a creation event, so create as much or as little as you want! However, if you want to be entered in the shout out post, you must participate in all 30 days.

“Can I post a creation after the day has already passed?”

- Yes! You’re welcome to post for a prompt day even after the date, just be sure to tag with which day and prompt you’ve created for! You will only be eligibile for the shoutout post if you complete all 30 days within the month of April.

“What if I don’t understand/like a prompt?”

- We have a list of 10 alt prompts for you to choose from if you don’t like the main 30. Feel free to use our alternate prompts for any day, and if there’s any confusion send us an ask!

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