The Continued Significance of Paris is Burning
Movies Like Paris Is Burning
While many strides have been made in pop culture representation of queer people since Paris is Burning debuted, this film remains an important reminder of the challenges that remain. Despite its broad appeal, the movie raises questions of collaboration, exploitation and documentary ethics.
Featuring voguing legends like Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija and Venus Xtravaganza, Jennie Livingston’s groundbreaking portrait of drag ballroom culture expanded the nonfiction-filmmaking tradition.
The Ball Scene
The movie Paris Is Burning is a landmark documentary that chronicles the world of ballroom culture in New York City during the 1980s. The film is a powerful and honest representation of the struggles that LGBT people face in America. It also highlights the resilience of the individuals involved. This film is an important addition to the nonfiction-filmmaking tradition, expanding upon the work of such groundbreaking practitioners as Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles brothers, and Camille Billops.
Livingston stumbled upon the subject of the film almost by accident, when she witnessed young drag queens vogueing (a stylized dance technique) in Washington Square Park. She was immediately drawn in, and the film became her life’s work. The film includes interviews with a number of big personalities, including Paris Dupree, Willi Ninja (the godfather of voguing), and Venus Xtravaganza, who was murdered by a john while the film was being made.
The dance competitions portrayed in the film encourage bombastic self-love and experimentation with gender identity, but they are also sites of fierce competition. Ballroom “Houses” are run by leaders known as Mothers and Fathers, who provide shelter, guidance, and status to their members.
The Kiki Scene
Any film that gives audiences a look into a world that’s foreign to them runs the risk of feeling overly voyeuristic. But Kiki, a new documentary directed by Sara Jordeno and co-written by Twiggy Pucci Garcon, avoids this trap, providing a confident, trustworthy glimpse at a community whose lives are far from simple.
The film follows a group of members from the Kiki scene, a subset of the ballroom community that revolves around voguing competitions and community outreach projects. The members, who are organized into “houses,” are dedicated to prioritizing mental health, fighting homelessness and educating their peers about HIV prevention, among other things.
These efforts are bolstered by the fact that they’re able to hone their craft in a place where they can express themselves freely. But for many of these Kiki kids, the scene isn’t just a hobby; it’s a way to survive. The movie offers a timely update on a world that has yet to receive the full respect it deserves.
The AIDS Crisis
In the midst of an AIDS crisis that was devastating communities of color, Jennie Livingston’s Paris Is Burning was both a critical and commercial success. In 2016, it was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”
Its legacy lives on in TV shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Pose. The film is an important document of ballroom culture, a world where the queer community came to express themselves. Its participants were full of big personalities including drag queen Paris Dupree, the founder of the annual ball that inspired the documentary’s name, and Willi Ninja, considered the godfather of voguing.
Many of the participants have died since the film was released, including Angie Xtravaganza, co-founder and “Mother” of the House of Xtravaganza, who was diagnosed with AIDS shortly after it was completed. And, of course, the iconic performer Venus Xtravaganza was murdered at age 23. Her killer has never been found.
The Future
Modern documentaries often feel like video Wikipedia pages, but Paris is Burning is alive and crackling with energy. Its stars like Pepper LaBeija, Venus Xtravaganza and Willi Ninja may be gone now but the spirit of their joy endures.
The film expands on the documentary tradition exemplified by Frederick Wiseman, the Maysles brothers and other groundbreaking practitioners of the form. It’s an exemplar of the axiom that great nonfiction films are also good dramas.
Its characters’ hustling is an important part of the story, and many of them talk openly about the positive and negative aspects of their hustles. Likewise, the film’s depiction of sexual exploitation is both harrowing and eye-opening. And its use of fashion runways and vogue competitions are evocative and intriguing. Paris is Burning is a film for our time, not just because it reveals a forgotten history but because it still feels relevant today. It’s the kind of work that deserves to be in the national canon.
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