Month: November 2023

Extra Material Related to Paris is Burning

Important Articles:

Unseen Footage:

Interview with the Cast of Paris is Burning by Joan Rivers (Interesting but also Uncomfortable)

Judith Butler’s Famous and Controversial Essay on Paris is Burning

Feminist_Film_Theory_-_23._Gender_is_Burning_Questions_of_Appropriation_and_SubversionDownload

Discussion Post #7: Machado’s In the Dream House

For Tuesday, 11/21, you must read Part I (up to page 60) of In the Dream House and then complete the post assignment below.

For this post, please select one of the “Dream House as…” entries included in pages 1-60 and analyze it. This should be an entry that seems significant, strange, provocative, problematic, or otherwise interesting to you in some way. 

This passage, for example, might:

  • Provide a rather striking and/or telling portrait of Machado (both Machado as our present-day narrator and Machado’s past self [“you”] about which she writes).
  • Provide a rich description of a particular setting or character.
  • Offer a telling portrait of or interesting set of facts about the perils of queer domestic abuse.
  • Offer a striking image or set of images (In other words, are there any places where you feel the language of the memoir allows you to see vividly a particular thing, place, character, or something else?).
  • Relate to any one of the themes we have discussed thus far: happiness, loss, mourning, melancholia, and more.
  • Do something else you find interesting and worthy of discussion!

Please compose approximately two paragraphs of analysis, with each paragraph containing at least six to seven sentences. In your analysis, I want you to explore your chosen entry, explicating what exactly about this entry seems to be so significant.

Submit your response below as a comment by Tuesday, 11/21 @ 5 p.m.

Post Assignment #6: Paris is Burning

This post assignment is rather open-ended. In at least two fully-developed paragraphs, I would like you to reflect on a moment or scene in the film Paris is Burning that you found particularly provocative, problematic, eye-opening, or just plain interesting.

What is it about this scene that caught your attention? Are you unsettled by this scene? Are you empowered? Are you confused? Are you distressed? Are you entertained? How do you feel about how this queer subculture is represented in this documentary? Did you find it controversial, like so many people often do? Did you have a different reaction altogether?

Whatever you choose to address, be sure to describe the scene, analyze it, and explain your reaction. I would also like you to include the specific minutes in the film in which your selected scene takes place!

Please complete your post by Tuesday at 5 pm.

For Thursday, 11/9

You have no post due this Thursday. However, I will expect you to do the following:

  • Read Riggs’ short essay “Black Macho Revisited.”
  • Review Rigg’s Tongues Untied (Watch Here!). I am not saying you need to rewatch the film, but I would like you to skip through it and re-watch some scenes so that you are able to have a robust discussion of the film on Thursday.

For Tuesday, 11/7

On Tuesday, we will be turning our attention to a new set of texts. We will spend Tuesday evening viewing Tongues Untied (1989), a film by Marlon Riggs.

Since we will be spending time closely analyzing this film in subsequent discussions, I will expect you to pay close attention and take notes.

Note that your first response paper is NOT due that evening. Rather, it will be due on Thursday, 11/9 by 11:59 p.m. Therefore, you will still have time to get questions answered about the response paper both before and after class on Tuesday.