A look at "Paris is Burning," and author bell hooks

Livingston chose to delve into a marginalized demographic of the United States, making a film that shared their everyday struggles and hardships while living in white society. Like many other films (documentary or otherwise) that include members of marginalized populations, the story is told from the point of view of the white (patriarchal - capitalist) supremacist. The individuals in the film are deemed unusual, interesting, and marginalized because the white men told them they were. It is these specific groups that white society finds fascinating because they supposedly fulfill the role of the “other” – that which dominant America is not. We find pleasure from consuming a bit of that “other” group, so we feel more worldly, more open-minded and accepting of diversity. The individuals in the film consistently judge themselves according to how well they can fit accepted roles within American culture – those identities which are deemed most pleasurable, beautiful, successful, etc. Indeed, one category within their “ball” competitions is “realness” – how well can you dress yourself to appear as much like your heterosexual (white) counterpart?
bell hooks calls this a “celebration of whiteness;” the individuals in the film worship at the throne of whiteness, even if it demands that they live in a perpetual cycle of self-hate and/or self-loathing, and experience times of physical or mental devastation. Indeed, some individuals in the film greatly admire famous white figures (i.e. models), and judge their own lives against and according to their own. Not only do the men/women in the film embody the white perspective, but Jennie Livingston (film maker) herself does as well. As a white woman, she is perpetuating the pattern of whites “doing a favor” to the marginalized people by bringing their story to the mass audience. But this is not done in hopes to strengthen the much-needed legitimate voices within our country; it is to reinforce the dichotomy of “us” vs. “them”. White culture does not accept these individuals into the greater society; rather, it represents black and homosexual cultures according to its ability to be consumed or marketed. Livingston tells us that these demographics are worth seeing – making them into a spectacle (especially because of their ball competitions), something to be enjoyed/viewed from the outside.
It is particularly interesting to consider the developed social roles for black men in white society. It strikes me that hooks pinpoints their socially-constructed difference from white men as a key catalyst that enables the film’s characters to cross-dress and embody a more feminine position. White males are not allowed to do this – but since black males have consistently been marginalized and forced into specific masculine roles (i.e. phallocentric or sexually powerful identities); they are essentially moving between multiple powerless positions when they cross dress. White society is characterized as masculine, strong, and patriarchal, forcing black (male) culture into a less-masculine role – towards a more feminine characterization. This tradition of femininity – that which American (white) society is not – allows the men in Paris is Burning to occupy the feminine role more acceptably.