Paris is Burning (1990)
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Paris is Burning Movie Review
Paris is Burning is a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston and starring Pepper LaBeija and Venus Xtravaganza. It’s a very moving, valuable documentary.
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“You don’t have to bend the whole world.
I think it’s better to just enjoy it“
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It focuses on drag queens living in New York City and their “house” culture, which provides a sense of community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers. Groups from each house compete in elaborate balls that take cues from the world of fashion. Also touching on issues of racism and poverty, the film features interviews with a number of renowned drag queens.
First off, as a Rupaul’s Drag Race fan, it was revelatory to me how that show is basically stolen in concept from these balls of the eighties, especially the balls and the various categories. It just goes to show how influential this subculture of the eighties was to the overall drag scene of today, and how this movie is thus a very important homage to this culture.
It’s crazy to me how all those decades before they had a thriving drag queen community and scene in NYC, but it’s all changed now when drag is more mainstream than ever. And hearing the interviews and seeing how they had to hide from the public was a sad reminder of how different it was for the LGBT community rather recently.
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I loved all of the interviews here, though they could have gone even more in-depth with some of the elements of drag as well as their personal lives. But they perfectly explained the balls, the categories, the rivalries and of course the important drag slang vocabulary that still remains to this day such as of course reading and shade. It’s a great textbook first look into drag for sure.
I loved the emphasis on balls, and those sequences were the most entertaining ones for me as a Drag Race fan. But the movie is also a great showcase of the minority scenes of the eighties such as blacks and Latinos as this is basically their movie which was wonderful that they got that.
A woman directed this movie due to her newfound fascination with the subject, and although I would have preferred a gay man to have directed it, I’m still glad that we got it in the first place and her direction is mostly excellent.
Some of the editing and pacing isn’t the greatest, but the film still flies by how short and entertaining it is, not to mention revelatory. It just sort of starts as that beginning is much weaker than the rest, but the second act is the most fun whereas the third act is the most moving.
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Yes, the movie truly ends on a heartbreaking note with the death of Venus Xtravaganza acting as a deeply tragic, yet necessary conclusion for this overall melancholic and sad movie in its tone in entirety. I felt that great sadness oozing throughout the whole picture, and it all culminated with that terrible ending.
Paris Is Burning is thus an important look into the transgender community of the eighties, and it’s even more potent in that regard because you can feel resolution and fear throughout all of the interviews with the transgender cast here. It surely is an important historical artefact that needs to be watched in order to appreciate our current times more.
Paris Is Burning is an important look into the drag and transgender scene of the eighties that offers a lot of revelatory interviews along with introducing the viewers to the vocabulary and this overall culture very well. The movie is well directed and edited, but its severely melancholic tone really sticks with you, and it culminates with that heartbreaking ending.
