The drag ball documentary Paris is Burning (1990) was a very eye-opening film for me to watch. Beforehand, I knew very little about the drag balls and the people that participated in them (to be frank, I knew very little about most LGBTQ+ things, which is why I am trying to learn more). It was so interesting to watch this movie and to try to understand the lives these people live and what makes them happy. After I had finished it, I was very intrigued by the articles I read about it.
Daniel T. Contreras’ “New Queer Cinema: Spectacle, Race, Utopia” examines Paris is Burning and focuses in particular on the aspect of race. According to him, most critiques do not consider the importance of race in the film as much as they should. While reading his article, I agreed that race played a big role. Contreras’ main point is that Paris is Burning shows racial and utopian potentialities within New Queer Cinema. Everyone interviewed in Paris is Burning was a person of color, yet many of them seemed to idolize white people or see themselves as white in their imagined perfect life. In fact, Venus Xtravaganza, a transsexual Latina, even said “I want to be a spoiled rich white girl.”
Venus Xtravaganza
Another article, bell hooks’ “Is Paris Burning?” also talks about the longing for “whiteness.” According to her, the black participants in the film do not want to become real black women but instead the idealized white woman. One of the film’s participants, Dorian Carey, mentions this as well when he says the femininity these women seek is perceived as white property. hooks goes on to say that the film is a “portrait of the way in which colonized black people . . . worship at the throne of whiteness” (hooks 149) despite the harm/humiliation it causes them. While I do not think I would go so far as to say that, I had also noticed while watching the film that many of the participants admired famous white people or aspired to be more white, so it was very interesting to me that Contreras and hooks placed so much emphasis on it.
I am not sure that I have the authority to say this, but I do not think that it was the film that brought this fact to light. What I mean by that is that the longing to be white seems to be more of something the participants of the film truly felt, rather than something orchestrated by the director Jennie Livingston. If that is the case, Paris is Burning seems to me like a commentary on this fact, because (at least, for me) that reality really stuck out and made me think about these people and how they live long after I had finished the movie. If not a commentary, it at least prompts people (like me) to think about it and the reality of our world.
Sources:
Contreras, Daniel T. “New Queer Cinema: Spectacle, Race, Utopia.” New Queer Cinema. 119-127.
hooks, bell. “Is Paris Burning?” Black Looks: Race and Representation. 145-156.
Film, Gender, and Sexuality 
I definitely agree with what you’re saying about the authorship of the film at the end of your post. The longing for whiteness that the subjects of the film express is deeply tragic and painful to see, but it is also a core element of the culture and doesn’t at all seem orchestrated by the films “white gaze”. Realness asa concept feels like a poetic expression of these feelings. There is a privilege and power in being white that is unattainable until society changes for the better. Venus Xtravaganza could have all the money in the world but that still wouldn’t be the same power as being a spoiled white girl. Realness helps craft a fantasy of that, while also shining a light on the injustice of that power imbalance in society.
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Hi Tara! I appreciated what you brought to the table in this ongoing, sometimes heated world discussion about Paris is Burning. The truth is- I’m always going to be torn. As a queer viewer, I recognize the birth of RuPaul’s Drag Race, of Pose, and of many sayings, expressions, and attitudes which our community emulates today. I’m always going to find fondness from that, and joy in the moments of this film where they are truly expressing themselves (for better or worse) in ball performance. That being said, I would say that your argument for not going as far as to say they “worship at the feet of white supremacy” was actually exactly why I thought hooks was correct! It’s so interesting to see how we all create different, nuanced connections to text, to film, and our interweaving of the two. I really do think that Livingston had the best intentions going into this film, but I don’t think she had the tools, the academia experience in African American studies, or any professional academic/creative help from people who could have made the lense and story of this film crystal clear. Because at the end of the day, even today to a lesser degree, queer people and especially queer people of colour are laughed at, trivialized, and made out to be the shell of a spectacle. Anyone with some research and insight into this before making the film would have created something with more clarity, and more focus on the tragedy of this as well as the joy. It’s about the honesty, I think. Somehow the telling of the darker parts of this story don’t feel as honest when taken at face value. Loved your post!
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Tara!
I appreciate your honest blog post about Paris is Burning. I too didn’t know much about the drag ball community and I’m part of the LGBT+ community! I was genuinely surprised that not more critics took race into account when viewing the film. How can you not? Even the participants bluntly talk about race and the “superior” race according to them. I do appreciate that Pose does a better job of this by bringing in race and class to the forefront of the plot.
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