Paris Is Burning

COMPARISON OF PARIS IS BURNING AND HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE Ava Morrow History 3220 The United States in the 20th Century November 13, 2017 Beginning in the mid-1980’s, a number of efforts were initiated to bring awareness and enlightenment to the actual tragedy of AIDS. Two films that evolved out of these awareness campaigns were the documentaries “Paris Is Burning” and “How to Survive a Plague” . Both films, although in significantly diverse ways, provide a window into the

The documentary, “Paris is Burning” follows individuals involved in New York’s “ball culture” during the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, which included Black, Latino, gay, and transgender individuals (Green, 1993). Many of the participants in the balls lived in “Houses” which serve not only as a team for ball competitions, but also as a family (Green, 1993). These houses are a place of safety since many individuals are rejected by their families of origin (Green, 1993). The subjects of the film face

subcultural group called the “ball culture” - the house system or ballroom community to describe an underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" and compete for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. In the movie Paris is Burning many of the like minded people were gathered under one roof to start their newly formed underground activities. They immediately gain their acceptance by anyone who runs the houses, people who are well respected within this community and have

Jennie Livingston, director of the 1990 documentary film, Paris is Burning, challenges the public to revisit their judgments on race, gender, and sexuality as she provocatively attempts to unravel the dynamic world of “ball culture” in New York City “and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it” (Livingston). It was Livingston’s investigation that affirmed the link I was uncovering between the gender performance popularly described as drag and spirit possession

In this essay I am discussing Jenny Livingston’s 1991 film, Paris is Burning, in terms of genre, representation, gender, ideology, hegemony and intertextuality. Paris is Burning is a documentary film following the lives of those involved in Drag-Ball culture, a subculture among some black and Latino occupants of Harlem. The documentary provides its audience with an invitation to these balls, allowing us to attend and indeed judge ourselves, the regimented competitions which involve the transformation

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

The 1991 documentary Paris is Burning directed by Jennie Livingston shows an important aspect of the African-American and Latino LGBTQ community in New York City during the 1980’s. The aspect that the film is centered around are the drag balls. The socially constructed norms of gender, race, and sexuality are all challenged by the people in the film and they make strong efforts to subvert the dominant cultural norms. In their own way they are both confirming and re-defying traditional conceptions

from a homophobic society. Paris is Burning shows the struggle of young gay adults in the world of 1980s New York City. This was a world where homosexuality did not exist as a part of daily life, and as a result, many gay individuals were beaten and ridiculed for their sexuality. Due to the lack of acceptance towards homosexuality, many parents disowned their children, forcing these teens out onto the street with nowhere else to stay. A specific example arises in the documentary when a drag member

The film aimed to explore an underground queer space, the Harlem ball scene of the 1980s, in which predominantly black and Latinx queer people caricatured gender by participating in elaborately orchestrated drag competitions (Livingston). In Paris Is Burning, Livingston intersperses testimony by scene members about their subversive performances and their lives with videos of the performances of drag that take place within the scene. The documentary was praised for being counter-hegemonic as its subject

Paris is Burning is a film directed by Jennie Livingston, and Livingston attempts to introduce/popularize the drag & ball culture to the world. In her documentary, she explores underground drag queen bars where individuals go to escape the world and cross-dress down a runway, where they are facing no judgment and receive a round of applause for their courage/act/costume. In Bell Hooks’ commentary on this documentary, she dives into the idea that being transgender is “always constructed in the patriarchal