Documentary corner: Paris is burning

Shade. What does it mean? Where did it come from? For those of us confused by the lexicon of reading, kiki-ing, and shade, it would be a good idea to take a look back to the 1980s, and Jennie Livingston’s landmark 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, which focused on the ball culture of NYC, and the individuals making their mark in it. Ball culture emerged from the LGBTQ subculture in America, and revolved around competitions, in which people would ‘walk’ in order to win trophies. Different categories would see individuals try and emulate a particular type of individual, such as the ‘executive realness’ category, which involved dressing up as fantasy 80s businesswomen, shoulder-pads and all.

The stylish film opened up the world of balls to the world, showing us the beating heart that lay at the centre of the glamour and glitz: people would be adopted into ‘families’, which would unite under a ‘house mother’, serving as a make-shift support network for marginalised members of society. Not only were the individuals featured in the film ostracised for being queer, but they were often separated from the rest of the mainstream gay community, in virtue of their skin colour and gender identity. Paris is Burning charts the lives of a number of queer and trans people of colour, such as Pepper LaBeija, mother of the House of LaBeija, whose legendary command continued for thirty years. While their stories are brave and extraordinary, they are rarely uplifting: Angie Xtravaganza, who ran away to New York at the age of 13, and died of AIDS shortly after the film was released, only 28 years of age; or Venus Xtravaganza, a trans-woman and sex worker, whose murder forms a major turning point in Paris is Burning. These people did not lead charmed lives, but their work, their sacrifice, their immense love for those cast out of society helped pave the way for the modern intersectional queer justice movement.

The impact of Paris is Burning is everywhere; from memes on Twitter about spilling the tea, to pretty much every single line quoted on RuPaul’s Drag Race, the impact of the ball scene has shaped the modern cultural landscape. Not all agreed with Livingston’s portrayal however, and feminist writer bell hooks slammed her for reducing the performance of black bodies to a mere spectacle for white consumers. But to approach the work in such a way seems to belie the openness with which those featured shared their lives, and the powerful message that can be taken away at the heart of the film. Livingston herself said: "It's about survival. It's about people who have a lot of prejudices against them and who have learned to survive with wit, dignity and energy. It's a little story about how we all survive".

So what exactly is shade, then? Well, in the legendary words of Dorian Corey: "shade is I don't tell you you're ugly but I don't have to tell you because you know you're ugly ... and that's shade".