A Study of Perspectives Essay -- Paris Burning Film Movies Essays

A Study of Perspectives Livingston's documentary Paris is Burning inspired an awareness of being that I had not previously experienced. The film urges the spectator to reevaluate not only one's breadth of knowledge of the black gay culture in the 80's, but also the perspectives from which one views the film. Personally speaking, the easiest evaluation of the latter topic would be the perspective of a privileged white straight female born into a sheltered and socially traditional household. This background would thus color my reaction to the film: one of intense sadness for the featured interviewees who yearned for an existence which was mostly unobtainable except in the case of extreme sacrifice and typically led to social ostracizing and ridicule (even in some cases, death) – yet this existence they yearned to emulate was something I had been born into without struggle nor appreciation, it was simply my life. But one could say my perspective of pity and guilt was actually somewhat of a perversion of the deeper meaning of the film. My feelings were not enlightened but the opposite – I was subjugating the people's identities in the film by not recognizing their independent validity, and only reacting to their performance of emulation with condescending sympathy. My depression over the film resulted not from what Bell Hooks's depression stemmed as she explains her views on the film: " [It is] a documentary affirming that colonized, victimized, exploited black folks are all to willing to be complicit in perpetuating the fantasy that ruling-class white culture is the quintessential site of unrestricted joy, freedom, power, and pleasure." (Hooks, Is Paris Burning? pg. 149) I was only saddened by the fact that the performers in... ...int their faces brown and wear prosthetic breasts and butts would reference historical oppression, but that this historical oppression still effected people of today and was not simply a story of past times, but a continuing struggle. Like the deeply rooted racism and classism of Paris is Burning, a film seemingly celebrating the culture and people it serves to eventually dehumanize, the actions of Bert and Ernie stood for much more than two Haverford students lacking perspective and foresight. Bert and Ernie's actions stand for a more deeply rooted problem of young people today forgetting that we are still struggling for equality and respect within our society and that no one is immune from this necessity for empathy and understanding. Works Cited: Hook, Bell (1992). Is Paris Burning? , Black Looks. (pp. 145-156). The Muppets Abstract. Oct. 5th, 2004.