Paris is Burning

Please note the purpose of this blog is to discuss established classics that I've never seen. As such, the following is laden with spoilers.

Why So Long?
Well its not like its Grey Gardens is it? The local HMV (when that was still a thing) wasn't exactly overstocked. I daresay even the likes of Fopp didn't carry this one. However, the recent release of the remastered edition, along with it now being carried Netflix, means that this seminal documentary is now easily available. Yet despite being nearly impossible to buy and never seeming to pop-up in screenings, the presence of this film permeated throughout discourse on documentary films. Verily, it was like the Harry Lime of the documentary world. Of course it helps when someone with a bit of pop culture clout champions you, in this case a little-known American songstress by the name of Madonna. I wonder if it annoys her that the credit for this recent release has probably more to do with the runaway success of RuPaul's Drag Race than it does with her? 

And?
It's hard to know where to begin, but I should qualify from the off that this is a tremendous watch. As director, Jennie Livingston has little interest in a single narrative, instead opting for a series of smaller narratives, each based around the characters found at these drag balls. The focus here is primarily on the sense of empowerment and the feeling of community that the balls provided to these queens at during a more socially conservative time. Of course, this being a film set in queer community during the AIDS epidemic, well it'll be of no surprise to you that some of the stories we see, end in tragedy. Tragically, we find out that one of the younger queens, who features quite prominently and talks a lot about turning tricks, was later found strangled in a hotel room. 

But as I said, Livingston is not interested in documenting LGBT repression or the AIDS epidemic per se. Those threats remain omnipresent, but Livingston clearly wants Paris Is Burning to record what these folk could achieve and become when allowed to work without fear. With the benefit of hindsight, we could say that she's caught the spark that would become mainstream queer culture. 

Also, the film is about drag queens, so it'll come as no surprise when I confirm that the film is incredibly funny. Who knew that men who are willing to go about dressed as women would possess cutting edge wit? It also manages to be funny even when it's not necessarily trying. For example, there's an inherent humour in the sheer number of categories the queens compete in. At one point, there's a costume competition, where the queens dress like the last trick who tried to beat them. Straight white male stand-ups have been trying black comedy for decades and not even approached something that good. On a personal note, I got a lots of kicks out of the ridiculousness of their trophies. Admittedly I can't think of a better alternative, but there's is something intrinsically hilarious about those ungainly bowling trophies they were handing out. 

"This is white America. Any other nationality that is not of the white set, knows this and accepts this till the day they die. That is everybody's dream and ambition as a minority - to live and look as well as a white person. It is pictured as being in America."

There will always remain something captivating about primary sources. Historical recollections, despite all their positives, will always add the narrative of perspective. A primary source is free from all this baggage, our subjects can't rationalise or contextualise what we are seeing into some bigger picture. This is a window into a true subculture as it existed at that time. For those who claim to truly champion the counter culture, to truly love the alternative, then this is essential - anything less is just pandering to the status quo.


Will You Be Watching It Again?
Undoubtedly


Has Any Light Been Shone on Some Heretofore Unknown Bit of Pop Culture?
Some of the more obtuse references throughout the six seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race that I've seen.