Film Analysis

In Jane Gaines’ “White Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory” she stated that “The male/female opposition, seemingly so fundamental to feminism, may actually lock us into modes of analysis which will continually misinterpret the position of many women,” (294). She means that because we view women in narrow ranges of views, we often miss the depth of a character. She goes on to explain how black women’s and lesbian’s views are often forgotten about. Mace in the film Strange Days (1995), is portrayed as a tough hero that is often saving the male protagonist. However, she is much more than a physically strong character. She is also shown as a love interest and as a sexual being. The most important aspect of Mace is her ability to maintain her femininity without the stereotypical idea of what a woman should be. Close to the final scene, she is running from the cops. In this moment she takes off her heals. This practical decision, even though it goes against Hollywood’s stereotypes, did not take away her femininity.

After analyzing the texts “Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion” by Judith Butler and “‘She’s Gotta Have It’: The Representation of Black Female Sexuality on Film” by Felly Nkweto Simmonds, one can note the broad and controversial topics they collectively discuss regarding black treatment by society, black sexuality in film, sexuality itself, and privileges one group of people exerts over the other in society. Specifically, Butler writes in detail about heterosexual privilege, explaining that it “… operates to naturalize itself and render itself as the original and the norm.” In addition, Simmonds takes this idea a step further in her journal by discussing black female sexuality: “Black sexuality has historically been defined by white racism to justify its perception of the inferiority of black people.” She writes as well about the idea of black women as breeders, and how they have previously been defined “…as a possession, the black woman was of little use to the revolution except as a performer or drudgery.” By exploring these concepts in action, one can see in Pariah (2011) how Alike struggles with opening up to her family regarding her sexuality and it is clear to the spectator that she has a fair reason to fear this. In one scene, Alike has left home after being hit by her mother but returns to tell her she loves her. As she does so, Alike’s mother is sitting down with a Bible, presumably praying to God about her daughter’s “condition” of being lesbian. Alike says “I love you” to her mother, who simply gets up and says “I’ll pray for you.” The audience feels sympathy for Alike at this point, thus overcoming the “heterosexual dominance” barrier that Butler discusses in her essay. However, it is clear that Alike’s mother does not approve of her sexual orientation, which represents part of society that may react the same way if one of their children was not heterosexual. Within Butler’s and Simmonds’ essays and this film, there is a prominent wake - up call to society for people to start expanding their minds and empathy to understand something broader, a sexuality reachers broader to what they may individually feel in their own sexuality.

Pariah (2011)

In “Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion,” author Judith Butler asserts that lesbianism has a complex relationship with heterosexuality that varies from person-to-person.  She says that the common view of these concepts as a “repudiation of heterosexuality” (341) is not necessarily true, but neither is the idea that “that there is a lesbian desire radically different from a heterosexual one, with no relation to it” (340).  Instead, each lesbian woman may view her sexuality as one of these things or some combination of the two.  As such, there is no singular definition of the relationship between lesbianism and heterosexuality.

In the case of young Alike in Pariah (2011), lesbian love is not related in any way to heterosexual love.  While this is made clear throughout the film as a whole as she discovers herself and her sexuality, it is especially evident in this excerpt from a piece she wrote about her journey to self-discovery (narrated at the end of the film):

“Breaking is freeing, broken is freedom.  I am not broken.  I am free.”

Alike’s use of the word broken indicates the view of heterosexuality as the norm and the origin, and homosexuality as unacceptable and unnatural.  However, she uses the term as a synonym with freedom to take ownership of her sexuality and break free from heteronormativity entirely.  She uses the final statements to emphasize that she is not broken, but rather she has come to the terms with her homosexuality to finally accept herself as she is, becoming free.  On Butler’s spectrum of lesbianism, Alike falls on the complete opposite of heterosexual repudiation; while she is oppressed by heteronormativity, her lesbianism is not a product of this oppression, but rather an innate aspect of who she is as a human being, as shown in her final statements at the end of the film.