Paris Is Burning Case Study Essay

1.I would argue that the group of poor gay minorities, like the people in the ball, is a subculture in itself. This group is a subculture of the gay culture. The distinguishing aspects of the group are that they are poor, gay, and minorities. Another distinguishing aspect is that members of this subculture are typically outcasts. They have been rejected by family members, friends, and American society as a whole. â€Å"It’s hard to imagine a more outcast group in American society than black and Hispanic homosexuals,† (Levy). I identified this group of poor, gay, minority men who participate in balls as a microculture. This microculture’s distinguishing aspects are that these men all seem to live for balls, with dreams of fame and fortune, â€Å"The balls are our fantasies of being superstars,† (Pepper Labeija). This group also has an extreme love for, and competitive drive to be successful at vogeuing. Another trait this group shares is a love for fashion. They use fashion and style in order to appear â€Å"real.† This subculture wants to appear to be authentically white, straight, and female (Levy). This is depicted throughout the film Paris is Burning. Another microculture that I identified in the film is the transvestite microculture. This microculture defines itself by dressing up like the opposite sex, in this case men dressing as women, but who do not wish to become women. They could be considered androgynous, (Solomon, 186). While they do not identify with females, they wish to look female. The third microculture I identified in the film is the transvestite microculture. This group’s ideal self (Solomon, 177) is female. They identify with females and wish to eventually become female. 2.The goal of this subculture is to become a â€Å"real† female, if not to transform completely, to at least look like a real female. They are motivated by the celebrities they see in magazines and on TV. Straight, white, females are this group’s comparative influence, (Solomon, 409). There are a few gay masculine men in this film; their goal would be to look authentically masculine and straight. The whole point of the balls is for members of this group to act out their fantasies. Nearly everyone in the film was pretending to be someone that they were not. Competing in the balls was â€Å"achieving in fantasy what the world had denied in [their] reality,† (Green). Acting out this fantasy allows the people in this film to compensate for dissatisfaction with their actual selves, (Solomon, 172). They desire to look like the beautiful celebrities in the magazines, (Venus Xtravaganza), so this group is doing whatever it can to make themselves more like these women. Sadly, usually the most they can do is pretend, by dressing and acting like these women. This subculture does not â€Å"wish to replace dominant culture, they long to be members of the society they imitate,† (Levy). Part of achieving their goal is purchasing clothing, make-up, shoes, even hormones and female body parts to look the part of a â€Å"real woman†. Without the possibility of consumption, it would not be possible for this group of people to achieve their goals and dreams. They wake up in the mornings as men, and leave their house in the afternoons as women because of the products they consume. They look at their reference group, (Solomon, 404) of straight females, and strive to look like them by purchasing the same products that these women use. To achieve their desired social identity they are acting out the symbolic self-completion theory, (Solomon, 176) by acquiring the clothes, hair, softer features, etc. that they see on women who are their ideals of beauty (Solomon, 196). In my opinion this is very similar to the actions of mainstream culture. â€Å"The movie is a successful attempt by outsiders to dramatize how success and status in the world often depend on props you can buy, or steal, almost anywhere – assuming you have the style to know how to use them,† (Ebert). I have observed that the common belief in mainstream culture seems to be that a person has to look a certain way to be successful. The more fashionable and beautiful a person looks, the more successful and therefore desirable they are perceived to be. Mainstream culture consumers spend millions every year attempting to make themselves look more successful and beautiful than everyone else around them. This is similar to the drag queen subculture portrayed in the movie in many ways. Both groups are trying to appear one way by purchasing clothing, plastic surgery, make-up, nice homes, etc. Both groups are desperate to be accepted by mainstream culture and both groups use style and purchasing power to try to achieve this dream they have of popularity and acceptance. There is a huge difference though. Main stream culture is constantly consuming goods and services in an attempt to fit in with each other. Drag queen subcultures are consuming these same goods to try to fit in with main stream culture. They dream of the fame and fortune that comes with being a beautiful, straight, stylish woman. â€Å"Livingston blames the advertisements they see in the media for fostering their unrealistic yearnings,† (Levy). They are competing with a completely different group of people. Not only is their competition different, it is nearly impossible to compete with. â€Å"The models compete to see who could pass in worlds that are almost completely closed to gays and blacks – especially, gay blacks,† (Ebert). The balls are this group’s opportunity to flaunt their consumptions, and practice for the â€Å"real world.† The winners are those who exhibit the most style, and often those who can afford to spend the most on their costumes, (Dorian Corey). Sadly, this group is competing with â€Å"members of a society that will never accept them,† (Levy). 3.Not surprisingly, this subculture faces many conflicts in their daily lives. These conflicts include dealing primarily with prejudices, money shortages, and abandonment. Conflicts are handled in many different ways. Prejudice is a problem all over the world and will probably never cease to be a problem. It is not depicted much in the film how this group of people handles this problem except to ignore it for the most part since there is really nothing that can be done about it. â€Å"I am white so I have the ability to write those grants and push my little body through whatever door I need to get it through. If [drag queens] wanted to make a film about themselves they would not be able, I wish that weren’t so, but that’s the way society is structured,† (Green). This subculture has very little, if any, power with anyone but themselves because of prejudices. This problem causes the other main conflicts they are faced with, money shortages and abandonment. Many of the people in this subculture have no other way to make money but to become â€Å"hussies†. They will use their physical tools to get what they want and need. â€Å"He’s taking me out for dinner later this evening, or for cocktails after midnight. I know he’ll give me some money just for me to maybe buy some shoes and a nice dress, so that the next time he sees me, he’ll see me looking more and more beautiful, the way he wants to see me. But I don’t have to go to bed with him, or anything like that. At times they do expect sexual favors, but that is between myself and them, so I don’t want to talk about that any further,† (Venus Xtravaganza). It is later discovered that Venus was found dead in a motel. She always did what she wanted to get what she wanted, such as getting into cars with men. Sadly, that is the life of a transsexual living in New York City, (Angie Xtravaganza). Money shortages give this group a risky shift, (Solomon, 267), distinguishing aspect of resorting to dangerous alternatives to make money, such as becoming prostitutes. This group also steals to get food as well as acquire props and clothing for their ball competitions. â€Å"Faggots,† or gay young men, are the best at â€Å"playing pranks† or stealing, (Freddie Pendavis). Many of the drag queens featured in this film have been abandoned by their families because they are homosexuals. To resolve this, this subgroup has formed its own families, or â€Å"houses,† as they are referenced to in the movie. Each house has a mother and a father. While these are not literal houses, it is a small community that offers support to its members. Family members assist each other with ball competitions, stealing, and encouraging each other when times are tough. 4.This subculture is very similar to mainstream culture. Both groups of people have a longing to be accepted. Both groups put a huge emphasis on how stylish a person is. The big difference is that the drag queen subculture is daring to be different to be who they want to be and fit in with whom they want to fit in. They could easily live in New York as straight men. They could live everyday pretending to be someone they were not and living a life they were not happy with to avoid the hardships that come along with being drag queens. â€Å"Beatings, violence and rejection are daily realities for men who want to pass as women, and so there is a certain courage exhibited by their choice,† (Ebert). Mainstream culture, however, is not so brave. Many people who are considered â€Å"mainstream† most likely have interests and tastes that are not considered the norms, (Solomon, 429). Some examples are a boy who enjoys dancing rather than football, or a female teacher who enjoys listening to metal rather than mainstream music. Both examples go against the stereotypes. While I personally believe many Americans, if they let their true selves show, would have personality traits that go against the stereotype that is associated with them, they will not let these traits show. They are not brave enough to go against mainstream culture and be the people they truly want to be. This drag queen subculture has dared to step out of the norm and try to become the people they really want to be. In most cases, this dream they have will be impossible to achieve. Mainstream culture influences this drag queen group completely. The drag queen subculture is striving to actually become part of the mainstream culture. Members of this group want to be like mainstream culture in every way. This is why they are pretending to be this mainstream group of people who will never accept them, (Ebert). Mainstream culture affects how this subculture looks, dresses and lives; nearly every aspect of their lives is determined by what mainstream culture does. However, the drag queen subculture has very little impact on mainstream culture. The only part mainstream culture has plucked from the drag queen subculture is â€Å"voguing.† Popular celebrities like Madonna got voguing into mainstream culture. Ironically, while mainstream culture was learning how to â€Å"vogue† it â€Å"began to copy a subculture that was copying it,† (Green). This is a very small influence that the drag queen subculture had on the mainstream culture, however, compared to the impact mainstream culture has on their lives. 5.Mainstream culture is the trends, attitudes, living styles, etc. that are made popular by the media. I do not think it is a collection of subcultures. I think that the media can pick certain aspects from subcultures and make them become mainstream culture, but I truly believe it is the media that affects what we call mainstream culture. The media controls trends by having celebrities endorse certain products. I think that we look at celebrities, see their beauty and/or success and assume they must know what the best product is. We want to be lovely and successful like them, so we try to imitate them. This catches on because everyone in mainstream culture wants to be accepted, and since what is considered acceptable and desirable is what the celebrities are endorsing, which is what we all do and buy. We also have the need to be accepted by our mainstream peers. If our peers believe what the celebrities are endorsing is what is most desirable, we will come to think it is desirable, in order to be accepted and desired.