Paris Is Burning - Burn, Baby, Burn!

PARIS IS BURNING- Burn, Baby, Burn!

“In a Ballroom you can be anything you want” - Dorian Corey.

This is the basic premise behind the wonderful documentary Paris Is Burning being released on video this week. Directed by Jennie Livingston, Paris Is Burning celebrates the New York City gay ballroom scene. In it, we are introduced to a lifestyle that is alien to most of us. It is a world of Vogueing, Houses, House Mothers, and Balls. This is a world which is fascinating and surreal, while at the same time expressing the concrete reality of this particular subculture.

The ballroom is the setting for these extravagant “Balls” that the film highlights. These Balls are unusual fashion shows in which members of various gangs (“Houses”) compete against each other in various events such as modeling and “Vogueing” (A series of dramatic poses set to dance music and named after the high fashion magazine Vogue). For most of the modeling competitions, the contestants (mostly gay, black males) dress up as females (mostly convincingly real) and try to out-strut each other. The modeling competitions are divided into various categories such as “Pretty Girl,” “Miss Cheesecake,” “School Boy/Girl,” “Butch Queens,” “Military Uniforms,” “High Fashion Evening Wear,” and “Bangey Boys/Girls.”

Each competing “House” is led by a “House Mother.” This “House Mother” is usually of “legendary” status and is the spiritual leader (and sometimes choreographer) of their particular “House” clan. In Paris Is Burning we meet several “House Mothers” such as Anji Xtravaganza, mother of the Xtravaganza House; Willi Ninja, mother of the Ninja House; Pepper Labeija, mother of the Labeija House; and Freddie Pendavis, mother of the Pendavis House. Prospective members of any houses usually have to prove themselves by competing in a Ball and winning a trophy before they are admitted into the “Family.”

The film is a documentary of this lifestyle and explores the philosophies behind it. As legend Dorian Corey explains in one of the most memorable sequences of the film (I shall paraphrase): “These balls allow you to live out your fantasies. You can dress up and be whoever or whatever you want to be. Most gay black males in our society don’t have much chance of advancement. They most likely will never be able to achieve the High Fashion Model status that many of them have dreamt of. But these balls give them a chance to be that model legend that they desire, at least in the eyes of our subculture. Besides, we are the only ones that matter to ourselves anyway.”

Paris Is Burning was the winner of 8 major film awards including The Sundance Festival and was on the Ten Best Films of the Year lists of many critics when it was theatrically released last year. Paris Is Burning certainly deserves all those accolades and many more.

The film is worth renting regardless of your sexual orientation. If not for anything else, the film has to be seen for its clever use of a fantastic disco soundtrack which features “Love Hangover” by Diana Ross and “To be Real” by Sheryl Lynn. Fabulous!