Paris Is Burning is a documentary that explores the world of drag performers - specifically the gay, transgender, Latino and African American drag queens of New York City in the 1990s. It documents one of drag's greatest and oldest culture, the Ball, and chronicles both the moments and preparations leading up to the ball and the categories and performances during the Ball itself. Although not a conventional fashion film and definitely different than any of the ones discussed in previous posts, there is undoubtedly a strong relationship between being a drag performer and the fashion world. Most drag queens are required to design, sew and create their own elaborate performance costumes.
What made this documentary extremely commendable to me is the fact there is still an underlying narrative and a continuum in its storyline, and a very eye-opening one at that - the audience was introduced to the interesting past and present of each drag performer, and every section of the Ball was explained and showcased brilliantly in well-organized snippets.
The aesthetic highlight of the documentary was perhaps the showcasing of their very own dance move entitled "Voguing": it is a mixture of poses that Vogue models have been seen to do in magazines, their own dance takes and adaptations from Egyptian hieroglyphics. This dance move is perhaps what makes this film timeless and iconically ground-breaking within the LGBT community as it has been perpetuated into modern dance culture, with some of the performers landing successful choreography and modelling roles because of it.
This personal insight into the world of drag queens and kings has created important questions on gender and identity: is the front that you put up for yourself, be it in drag or not, a reality that you have created for yourself or merely an escape from universal reality in its entirety?
What a fantastic documentary! Luckily I was able to see this film in a class not too long ago - it really stuck with me. I would definitely agree, the documentary did a great job of creating a narrative for the viewer. You mentioned that you thought the aesthetic highlight of the film was the Voguing that was performed. While I would definitely agree, I also thought that the footage of the “balls” themselves also added a certain aesthetic to the film. The bright colours of the costumes, the announcers, and the acting really set the tone for the film. This also ties into your question about identity. I think the documentary is really trying to communicate the dual identities many LGBT individuals are forced to take on. The balls were venues where they could “try on” their new identities - as almost a test-run before using them in the real-world. In this case, I would say identities are both a creation and an escape from a predominantly heterosexual world.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of these balls before and I found this documentary to be extremely informative. It was amazing to see all these different people getting up on that floor and struting their stuff! You could tell that this was a space where these people felt safe to experiment with different identities and attitudes. As Katelynn previously mentioned seeing the footage of the balls really contributed to the film. You felt that you were being granted access to a secret party that you had never heard of and could see what happened there directly without having to have it described to you through a mediator. I was fascinated with the concept of houses and how many people lost their families when their true identity was discovered, but they were able to socially adapt to find the kind of support and love that they needed to continue to grow and develop!
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