#cinematicstyles

Judith Butler, in “Gender in Burning: Questions of Appropriations and Subversion”, discusses the idea that everyone is born with a clean slate, and over time you form your identity. Within this, gender is something that you can choose as a part of your identity. She says that gender and lesbianism and heterosexuality have a complex relationship, and that heterosexuals believe that acting like the gender that you were born is the norm, and how it is supposed to be in society. However, the norm also lacks originality. For example, Alike’s mother never can accept her for who she is. When she finally tells her mother that she is a lesbian, she can never come to accept her for who she is, despite the fact that this is her daughter. She even tries to attack Alike, while her husband holds her back. Because of her beliefs, she is never able to accept Alike for who she is, and decides to instead “pray for her”. In “She’s gotta have it: The representation of black female sexuality in film”, Felly Nkweto discusses the role that black men play in representing black women’s sexuality in film. However, this film goes against this stereotype, as it is directed by Dee Rees, a black lesbian women just like Alike. This film does not look at the black females from simply a males perspective and is not just a way to please men. For example, in the end Alike is finally able to express who she is. Even when her father tells her that she can come home and things will be different, she explains that she is not running, but instead she is choosing. 

In “Gender Is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion,” Judith Butler discusses how heterosexuality is considered the “norm”; therefore, the performance of other genders is based on the idea of repudiation of heterosexuality. Felly Nkweto Simmonds’ “‘She’s Gotta Have It’: The Representation of Black Female Sexuality on Film” discusses the unprivileged position that black women have in cinema as well as their inability to express their feelings and desires. Butler and Simmonds’ ideas can be seen in the final scene of Pariah (2011) where Alike is reading one of her poems in the background while footage of her moving to another city appear onscreen. In her poem, Alike compares been lesbian to been broken. The word broken has a negative connotation which brings the idea of been heterosexual as something perfectly function; this is a representation of how society has established ‘heterosexuality’ as the norm. Similarly, even though Alike already told her parents about her sexual preferences she is still not able to fully express it, so she has to use her writings as she used to do it at the beginning of the film in order to address her ideas about sexuality.

The essays “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 respectively explore gender and sexuality. Butler presents the theory of gender performativity which states that gender is constructed through a set of performances or “norms” rather than biological standards. Certain performances appear more masculine and thus are correlated with the male gender. Moreover, she discusses how heterosexuality has made normalized itself and established itself as original. Nkweto describes the difficulty of black female sexuality. She writes against the historic view of the black woman as being merely a “breeder” and describes the difficulty black women have in expressing their sexuality because of societal views

Pariah (2011) is a film that explores the life of a teen black lesbian who struggles with expressing her sexuality. She desires to be a “tom-boy,” but her mother is opposed to this. Thus, Alike finds herself navigating a minefield for most of the film as she attempts to please her mother whilst maintaining her identity. Her method for doing this is by changing clothes and performing the typical “girl” while in front of her mother. One scene that shows this “transition” is the scene where Alike changes her clothing on the bus. Here she goes from being dressed in typical male clothes (a flat back cap and a wife beater) to typical female clothing (including earrings). This transition uses Butler’s idea of performativity to express gender through the adherence to clothing norms. Not to state that Alike is attempting to become a male through her clothing, she merely wishes to express masculinity which she accomplishes through this transition. Moreover, her need to transition is founded in her inability to express her sexuality to her family. Society sees homosexuality in such a negative light that she feels a need to hide herself. This inability is reflective of Nkweto’s assertions about black women struggles to express their sexuality and Butler’s assertion about heterosexuality having normalized itself. These two constructs must be overcome by Alike and her doing so drives forward the narrative.