The Costume of Convention: An Analytical Essay on Jennie Livingston's Documentary, "Paris is Burning"

Paris is Burning is an intense study of the duality taken on by the transgendered community. Each man in the film struggles with defining his identity, raising a crucial argument in the film: that identity can be “artificially” constructed, both in terms of personality and gender. One of the sequences addresses this convoluted construction of self in its exploration of “realness”, the ability to perform convincingly as one’s heterosexual counterpart. The “realness” categories give the men of Paris is Burning the opportunity to fulfill their occupational fantasies. However, within this realm of make-believe, performance easily becomes muddled with a desperate form of self -expression.

The film’s presentation of this blurred line reveals that the men of Paris is Burning are the most “real”, and the most “themselves”, when they are participating in the fantastical ball performances. During their performances the men can be the women they dream of being. It is on the streets, in the “real” world, that they must suppress their deepest desires and adopt a costume of convention in order to survive the brutality of intolerance. Whenever the men are interviewed on the city streets during the day, they are dressed in typical male attire. When interviewed at night or within the safety of the ballroom, the men emerge from their heterosexual costumes and adopt either feminine or androgynous appearances. Livingston exposes both identities to her viewers, demonstrating how these men must construct identities according to their environments.

The sequence begins with a gay man’s voiceover stating, “When you’re gay, you monitor everything you do.” His words are followed by images of middle to upper class white people walking about the streets of New York City. Livingston simultaneously imposes a song, “To Be Real”, over the footage. The upper white class figures on the sidewalk give way to a panel of black transsexuals dressed as demure upper class females. This brief montage closes with a black title screen that reads “REALNESS” in large, blocked font. Livingston’s juxtaposition of “real, well-to-do” females with “imitation, underprivileged” females emphasizes the subjectivity of the perception of “realness”. According to the men of Paris is Burning, “realness” is perceived as a convincing imitation of one’s heterosexual counterpart. To the heterosexual community, though, gender realism is perceived in terms of biological sex. No matter how convincing these men are as women or other members of social classes, their imposed sex and class status can never be completely concealed. No matter how convincing these men appear in their performance attire, society will still perceive them (according to their own subjective perception of “realness”) as pretenders.

The next shot shows seasoned expert Dorian Corey dressing up in her drag costume. As she begins to speak on the nature of “realness”, Livingston provides the viewer with a series of shots that portray ball-goers dressed up in occupational costumes. Corey tells the camera that “realness” is the ability “to blend”. (Later, another ball participant explains, “It’s really a case of going back into the closet” and that “when [one can be] undetectable, those are the femme realist queens”.)

To portray this imperceptible merge into the social sphere, Livingston links four shots of “realness categories” together. The first shows a man dressed up as a college student while behind him an audience applauds as if he has just given a successful speech to his colleagues. Livingston then cuts to a close-up of a man dressed in a military uniform. As he salutes, his face takes on a solemn expression that reads of dedication and patriotism. In this close-up, no audience members or decorations of the ballroom are visible. The third shot captures a man dressed as an upper-class woman. She stands as if she has just made her entrance into the country club, with all eyes on her pristine and opulent attire. To the left of the frame, a small table of audience members watches her pose; however, there is no visible evidence within the frame to suggest the scene takes place within a gaudy ballroom. The final shot in the sequence shows a male executive, waist-up, removing paperwork from his briefcase. His image floods the frame, and (once again) Livingston removes all indications of location from the screen. Livingston’s careful cropping and framing techniques remove the flamboyancy and extravagance of the ball from the background of the subjects, emphasizing that if this person moved into the space of the city streets, he would blend in with other members of society and be convincingly “real”.

This particular sequence makes a strong argument for the relationship between space and identity – that “realness” is defined by one’s environment. Each subject’s attempt to dress up in these costumes of convention makes a statement about the gay community’s longing to fit into traditional society. In the safe environment of the ballroom, these individuals can transform into anyone they want to be, and for one night they can behave as a sort of anti-Cinderella figure (dressing as their truest self in a fantastical environment). However, once the sun rises and the day begins, they revert back to their concealed identities – behaving as a true Cinderella figure each day to blend into the conventions of society and surviving the cruel streets of a predominantly intolerant world.