Paris Is Burning and Mass Media: Race, Gender & Identity

Introduction: Paris Is Burning and Its Cultural Context

Paris Is Burning is a provocative and controversial documentary film released in 1990. Directed by Jennie Livingston, it focuses on the drag ball culture that existed in New York City during the 1980s. The film centers on three primary topics: race, homosexuality, and prejudice toward social stereotypes. It examines not only white American urban culture but also the lifestyles of African-Americans, Latinos, and gay individuals within their communities, while simultaneously shedding light on the lives of transsexual people and sex workers in the city.

The significance of the film lies not only in the thought-provoking topics it covers but also in its style of filmmaking and in the fact that it perhaps marks the end of the cultural phenomenon that was the New York drag balls. The documentary moves between footage of drag ball events and interviews with prominent personalities from the African-American, Latino, gay, and transsexual communities. The drag ball events and competitions were structured around specific themes, and all contestants were expected to walk across a crowded room as models do on a runway. The key difference was that the judging criterion was not based solely on fashion sense but on the authenticity of the individual and what he was representing as part of himself. Contestants were divided into groups called "houses" based on their fashion sense and styling — for example, the House of Prada. Each house was representative of the family or social circle of the contestant. The most consistent winners would attain the status of legend. Interviewees included celebrated figures such as Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Anji Xtravaganza, and Willi Ninja. Their commentaries focused on how individuals leading lives outside the mainstream had to tackle intolerance, racism, homophobia — sometimes from their own families — as well as disease and social, medical, and economic hardship.

The drag ball is also represented as a multifaceted presentation of sex, social division, and race — a space where any individual can freely express their lifestyle, identity, orientation, dreams, goals, and opinions without fear of ridicule or judgment. The film brings to light both the African-American and Latino communities, each encompassing a wide array of identities, sexualities, orientations, and social transgressions. The film received considerable recognition for its provocative approach, including the following awards:

• International Documentary Association Award (1990)
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Documentary (1990)
• Audience Award for Best Documentary, San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (1990)
• Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary, Sundance Film Festival (1991)
• Teddy Award for Best Documentary, Berlin International Film Festival (1991)
• Best Documentary, Boston Society of Film Critics Awards (1991)
• Golden Space Needle Award for Best Documentary, Seattle International Film Festival (1991)
• Outstanding Film or Documentary, GLAAD Media Awards (1992)
• National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Documentary (1992)

Gay Visibility and the Limits of Tolerance

The Limitations of the Discourse of Norms: Gay Visibility and Degrees of Transgression by Jay Clarkson examines what can be perceived as normal gay representation either in the media or in everyday social settings. The chapter opens with the discomfort of a straight-acting gay man upon witnessing the openly gay behavior of a friend at a local community hangout. The concern of the straight-acting gay man is not the open gay expression itself but the setting in which it occurs — a family-oriented local venue where gay visibility was minimal. The chapter goes on to discuss how society and media alike remain uncertain about the appropriate level of gay visibility within a heterosexual setting. It also highlights that media depiction plays a significant role in shaping how homosexuality is generally tolerated within social structures. Crucially, the chapter argues that greater gay visibility does not automatically translate into greater power or acceptance for gay people; it merely brings the issue further into the spotlight, which can in turn lead to heightened scrutiny.

When we analyze gay visibility in the media, we see that the effort is generally to normalize it — to make it feel like a regular part of social life rather than something to be condemned. This was not the reality for the individuals portrayed in the documentary. The film shows how one character became part of the New York drag ball phenomenon after his homophobic parents rejected his lifestyle and threw him onto the streets. The documentary is therefore an important record of the prevailing attitude toward homosexuals during that era.

The New York drag balls served as a kind of expansive media outlet for gay and queer individuals in the 1980s and 1990s — a space where they could express themselves freely, without shame or punishment. The documentary focused on this drag ball culture within New York City, with particular attention to African-American, Latino, and transgender visibility. This not only illuminated the homosexual issues that communities were facing at the time but simultaneously raised the issues of race and prejudice.

Perhaps the most striking moment of the documentary is the commentary on how minorities measure their own success by how closely they can replicate a white American lifestyle. This two-and-a-half-minute passage is one of the clearest depictions of the gap between white and minority lives in America. It observes that media advertising typically portrays the average person as either rich or highly educated — and that when children appear in advertisements, they are shown playing in gardens with pools rather than in concrete alleyways. This media depiction was a source of concern for minorities, who recognized that as long as they could not match the white lifestyle being projected, they had little opportunity to represent the truth of their own circumstances.

This dynamic places a profound emphasis on conformity as a prerequisite for recognition among minority groups. Media depictions of homosexuality are following a similar trajectory today, which is why many straight-acting gay men must carefully choose where and when to express themselves. It is why media coverage tends to focus on how and when a gay or lesbian person "comes out of the closet" rather than why they do so. If the focus were shifted to the "why," it would become apparent that increased media visibility itself generates increased scrutiny — and that this scrutiny has fostered peer pressure and preconceived judgments about what behaviors are associated with homosexuality.

Latina Stereotypes, Self-Imposition, and the Drag Ball Houses

Debra Merskin's chapter Three Faces of Eva: Perpetuation of the Hot-Latina Stereotype in Desperate Housewives examines actress Eva Longoria's role as Gabrielle Solis and argues that her character's choices correspond to a broader Latina stereotype. She is perceived as desirable and "hot" because of her ethnic background — and what is particularly noteworthy is that this perception is, to a significant degree, self-imposed by the character herself.

This dynamic is reflected in the drag ball setting, where contestants are divided into houses, each representing a distinct fashion sensibility, thereby establishing a self-imposed standard for others to follow. The houses set parameters in the minds of contestants, requiring them to conform or adhere to a particular style — or at least the closest approximation they can achieve. Although the drag balls were a remarkably successful outlet for social minorities to express themselves, the division into houses nonetheless imposed structural constraints on many participants, creating a form of self-regulated conformity even within a space designed for freedom.

Conclusion

The chapters discussed here are thought-provoking, and their comparison with a controversial film like Paris Is Burning makes the philosophies they present even more interesting to analyze. The movie is a highly eclectic collection of interviews from compelling personalities, offering an honest, all-access look at the world of fashion, racism, homophobia, and the New York drag balls. The film clearly depicts how these balls were the site of some of the most disturbing lifestyle realities of the era — but also how they became a channel through which numerous individuals expressed self-belief and pride.

Audiences watching the film can readily recognize the existence of a life within a life — lives intertwined with the same ambitions, dreams, desires, and goals that characterize American society in general, not only during the 1980s and 1990s when the documentary was made, but today as well. This quality of universal identification is what makes the documentary such a fascinating and enduring work: while it confines itself to a narrow slice of urban experience, its story resonates deeply with all those who seek success, status, and a life that permits genuine happiness, approval, and love.

The chapters selected for this analysis provide a rich framework for evaluating the film's many dimensions — from the inner workings of the fashion world to the realities of racism and prejudice. More than anything, they help reveal that the film is about real people living in a real society who, however flawed, possess a goodness that can overcome those flaws and open the way to better lives and freer choices.

References

Clarkson, J. (2008). The limitations of the discourse of norms: Gay visibility and degrees of transgression. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 32(4), 368–382. Sage Publications.

Green, J. (1993). "Paris Has Burned." The New York Times. Retrieved August 9, 2011, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE0DF143DF93BA25757C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Merskin, D. (2007). Three faces of Eva: Perpetuation of the hot-Latina stereotype in Desperate Housewives. Howard Journal of Communications, 18, 133–151. Taylor & Francis.

Moore, C. (2008). Resisting, reiterating and dancing through: The swinging closet doors of Ellen DeGeneres's televised personalities. In R. Beirne (Ed.), Televising queer women: A reader (pp. 17–31). Palgrave Macmillan.

Peck, J. (2008). The anxieties of the enterprising self and the limits of the mind cure in the age of Oprah. In J. Peck, The age of Oprah: Cultural icon for the neoliberal era (pp. 211–239). Paradigm.

Rose, T. (2008). There are bitches and hoes. In The hip-hop wars (pp. 167–185). Perseus.

Schor, J. (2004). From Tony the Tiger to Slime Time Live: The content of commercial messages in children's advertising. Excerpt from Born to buy: The commercialized child and the new consumer culture. Scribner/Simon & Schuster.