Looking in from the Outside

This week we watched Paris is Burning (1990), a film that I have seen before, though it was definitely a while a go and so it was good to rewatch it. Something I noticed, but couldn't really put words to until after our discussions this week, was how I felt when I was watching it, the feeling of intruding into a space that is not meant for me. Now, knowing what I know about the background of the filmmaker, Jennie Livingston, I understand more why I felt that way. As was mentioned in class, because we don't really see or hear her much, we as viewers are put in her shoes, and so just as she is intruding into these spaces to capture ball culture, we feel that intrusion throughout the film as we watch. Early on in the film, she includes this shot of the doorway to enter into the ballroom from the street. In a way, this clearly distinguishes the outside from the inside, the mainstream from this specific subculture, that Livingston, and therefore also us as viewers, are about to intrude into. 

I do think it is problematic that the film is presented as being very politically neutral, as if Livingston simply filmed what she saw and that her whiteness, or her background or agenda didn't affect the film in any way. We know that this is not the case, even in documentary, filming objectively without your own personal standpoint seeping in is very hard to do. What really bothers me is that she refused to really discuss the intersections between race and sexuality in the film, how power and privilege play a role in the lives of those filmed. As bell hooks said, she is also unwilling to question her role as an outsider looking in and the way that can potentially distort one's perspective. If she had questioned this, or at the very least acknowledged her role as a white person intruding into and filming this culture, perhaps it would be a little less disappointing... 

I also thought it was interesting to discuss this idea of the ritual turned into spectacle, and how to read this film with that in mind. On the one hand, it is so great to have these representations of queer Black joy, and this film does really show that. The joy and life is so contagious through the screen that even as a viewer I found myself smiling and cheering when the individuals on screen were looking so good in the categories and dancing and making jokes with each other. But then it's also disturbing to think about the white mainstream reception of the film, and how it was very much for entertainment, a way for white people to peer into this world and watch for a bit, and then leave without feeling any effect of the weight or seriousness of the ritual, and the realities of their lives that were not shown. As we have discussed, this definitely shows up in how quickly the filmmaker brushes over Venus Xtravaganza's death, because as bell hooks said, "death is not entertaining" (155). 

After watching, I had to stop and think and go, did I just receive this as entertainment, and did I enjoy it because I'm supposed to because this film was made for white people to be entertained (and educated a bit on this culture)? I think it's generally really important to think about who made the film, what their intentions are, and then also who the film was made for, and I think that's especially true with this film.