Paris Is Burning

406 Words2 Pages
The film Paris is Burning captures the life of gay and transsexual men as they fight for a place in our society. The subjects of the documentary discussed competing in the Legendary Ball. Each individual experience of the ball was unique and informative to the viewers. Viewers were given an up close look at life as a gay male or transsexuals. The Legendary ball was a symbol of their daily struggle they face everyday of their lives. They were given the opportunity to express themselves to the world and in the process help strengthening their community by encouraging others. The film introduced a Ball that gay men and transsexuals perform in every year. The Ball is similar to the Oscars awards our society have for actors and actrists. The people performing in the legendary Ball would potray a famous person, a life style, or event vogue (style of dance or movement). The people performing discused the importance of competing in the Ball. Some use the ball for fame among their culture. Ultimately, most of the contestants uses this setting to be what society tells them they can not be. For an example, a businessman, a pretty women, choreographer and soldier. The film also talked about how the ball is always changing. One older drag queen talked about how they were into dressing like show girls during his time. The winners of the ball usually branch of to form their own house or unit to mentor other gay men and transsexuals. The term they used for these individuals was mother. The mother roll became important to the people that were seeking out family guidance. Most of the gay men and trans were rejected by their families due to their choosen sexuality. the rejection of the gay men made them stronger in order to indure their surroundings. At the end of the film they discused a tradgy with one of the subjects. One of the transsexuals was a

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