I’m so thankful that I was that smart.” (Livingston, 1990)Īfter all, he points out, women have it a lot worse than men in many ways in this society. That’s taking it a little so far… A lot of kids I know, they got the sex change… I’ve never recommented it. “I can only say how a man who acts or dresses like a woman feels. In other words, he suggests that becoming a woman means facing a new hardship: to be a real woman is simple to face real sexism (Halberstam and Livingston, 1995). Because Labeija knows that simply “having a pussy does not mean you will have a fabulous life”, he never wanted the actual transsexual operation. However, he did not want a sex-change operation, telling that women do not have it so great. Like many other performers in the documentary, he had also surgically implanted breasts. He was the last of the four great queens of the modern Harlem balls Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey and Avis Pendavis all died in recent years (Martin, 2003). However, when LaBeija was not onstage in the house, he was William Jackson of the Bronx, who sometimes dressed like an ordinary man. ''A house is a family for those who don't have a family,'' Labeija said in the documentary (reference: Netflix? Livingston, 1990).
Pepper LaBeija was called mother the house's younger members were the children. For an example, Pepper LaBeija (pronounced la-BAY-zha), a drag queen in Harlem, preferred to be referred to by the feminine pronoun, because (s)he played both roles in a mother and a father in his house as his official title was “Mother of the House of LaBeija” (N/A, 2003). It seems Livingston purposely draws attention to the individual story respectively so that viewers are able to see and compare their life realness in comparisons with others’ realness. In “Paris is burning”, each character is very personally depicted so the audience readily notices they have subtle different thoughts about their “realness”: performing realness and wanting to be real. Pepper LaBeija: Mother of the House of LaBeija This blog takes a look at the performative elements and stories presented by the actors in the documentary. However, this is always the case when people are consciously put in front of a camera, it is just an inherent part of filmmaking: “to authenticate the fictionalisation” (Bruzzi, 2006). Some of the “actors” may have a certain persona in front of the camera or adjust their behavior for the audience (performative elements), in that way it can be viewed as actors performing. Usually these participants have been not accepted by their real family, so they move into other same-like people in “houses” that are led by “house mothers or fathers”.Įven though the people featured in the documentary can be considered “actors” due to the nature of filmmaking, they are still real people explaining/displaying real phenomena and expressing real feelings. However, behind the trophies and costumes lies a harsh truth – for most of the members this ball is the closest they can get actually get to their dream life. You go in there and you feel 100% right as of being gay”. (Mohenu, 2018) Ball is a celebration, and as one of the interviewed men in the film says - “it is like crossing into the looking glass in wonderland. And if you can walk like a supermodel, the “Runway” category is the one for you. If on the other hand, you can blend in with cisgender women, you can walk in “Femme Queen realness”. If you can blend in and look like a heterosexual male, you can walk in “butch queen realness” category. It is a place where gay people compete by walking in different categories to win trophies. Already in the 1920’s gay men would gather under one roof and decide to have a competition amongst themselves – “balls”. This documentary follows gay and transgender people who, by answering to director’s questions, explain crucial keywords from their community, for example, what is a “ball”, what “categories” are in it, what “vogueing” is, a “house”, a “house mother” and “father”, “readings” and “shade”. As in a documentary, we not only see the glam and extravagant performances, but also the everyday life struggles of the gay and transgender community. The award-winning and nowadays iconic documentary invites it’s viewers to get to know the “ball culture” scene in New York City from mid to late 80’s through the stories of people involved in it.
What is Paris is burning about? - “This movie is about the ball circuit and the gay people that’s involved in it and how each person’s life brought them to this circuit.” This simple answer is given by an unknown man’s voice in the first minutes of Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary film.