Dennis van Vreden/reviewdraft1

I Shot My Biological Self

by Dennis van Vreden June 5th 2012


Paris is Burning
A 1990 documentary directed by Jennie Livingston

Other Voices, Other Rooms
An retrospective Andy Warhol exhibition that ran from October 12th 2007 till January 13th 2008 in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Coinciding with the exhibition a book was published by NAi Publishers, Rotterdam that I am using as a reference. This publication was edited by Eva Meyer-Hermann by the title Andy Warhol, a guide to 706 items in 2 hours 56 minutes.

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Paris is Burning is a story of being secluded. Secluded from money, but also secluded by not being accepted in society. It's a subculture. It only exists within the ball they created for themselves. The balls are their fantasies of being a superstar.
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"A ball is to us, is as close to reality as we're gonna get to all of that. You know fame, fortune, stardom and spotlights"

We are immediately taken into the scene of the 80s. The end of the Golden Age in New York City drag balls. A poor African American and latino community of gays and transgenders.

Introduced to us as the mother of Queens is Pepper LaBeija. Talking about the fact that most of the kids coming to the balls basically have nothing and live on the streets, but would do anything to come up to the ball one night and live the fantasy.

"It's like crossing into the looking glass, Wonderland. You go in there and you feel a 100% right of being gay. It's not what it's like in the world. It should be."

Here's where we instantly spot one of the anthologies being in the gay community. The ability to take on any role and be whoever you want to be. From strutting around wearing an oversized all gold ensemble posing like Grace Kelly to portraying a masculine soldier in full uniform.

There's one particular theme that struck me. "Realness", which comes right after a marvelous quote: "When you're gay you monitor everything you do, you wanted to hide how you look, how you talk, how you dress". The goal of realness is met whenever the contestant is the most believable at acting out their straight opposites, "to be able to blend". One by one three African American guys do their acts on the ball in full trainer jacket, white socks, tank top, gold necklace and a cigaret to a rolex, fur-neck coat, leather cap, b-boy walking smoking a cigar with the ball crowd cheering at the top of their lungs.

Now the system that always intrigues me. In how these 'vicious queens' seem to be together holding strong as a community without killing each other. It becomes clear to me that 99% of all of them are abandoned by their parents and families. They have so called 'House' systems where one is the 'Mother' and whenever a new kid comes in from the streets they seek guidance, they need a role model. And the Mother will provide that role to them. They created their own families.

The Houses are later referred to as gay street gangs. Who fight by competing at the ball.

Spiritual roots, that is what I am researching

And then there's a link between these drags and the Andy Warhol exhibition. Other Voices, Other Rooms is named after Andy Warhol's favorite writer Truman Capote and is about Andy's continuous search for identity.

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steve's tips:
Dick Hebdige, Subculture
Re-articulating desire.
glamrock
change. we want difference.
a more radical difference was wanted. (with the glamrock)