On top of researching the Queer Youth Movement, I wanted to watch queer documentaries to get a better grasp on how I should approach my documentary and what the genre is like.
For my research, I watched two documentaries. The first documentary I watched is called, Paris Is Burning. Paris Is Burning, directed by Jennie Livingston, is about the New York City ballroom scene in the 1980s. New York Ballrooms in the 1980s were a place for gay and trans people, especially minorities, to express themselves through fashion, drag, and dance. They also find a community and a family where they can be themselves when they have been cast out by their biological families. Many parts of this documentary also highlight the important parts of ballroom culture that have influenced the queer community today. Some of these include vogueing which is a form of dance that is used to challenge somebody, reading which is using insults as jokes, and drag competitions. I thought this documentary was phenomenal. It was so beautiful to see people so genuinely happy about being themselves, expressing themselves, wanting to follow their dreams, and finding a family in their own community. This is what I want to capture in my documentary. I want to show while there has been hatred and dismissal of different identities, they can still live, be themselves, and be happy. I also want to incorporate the genuineness of people telling their stories and how they have overcome the hate and bitterness that come with being different. This documentary was amazing and it really helped me understand how to better approach and create my own documentary. There is a link to the film here.
The second documentary I watched is called, Transhood. Transhood, directed by Sharon Liese, follows the story of four transgender kids and their families as they grow up over five years. Each subject told a different story, Lenna age fifteen wants to complete her transition and become a model, Jay age twelve is just medically starting his transition, Avery age eight is a child activist for the trans community, and Phoenix age four identifies as a girl-boy. This documentary did a good job of showing how their identities evolve and how they grow and mature. They also tell stories of being outed, activism, and de-transitioning. While I liked most aspects of the documentary, there were some I deemed problematic. When Phoenix de-transitioned and decided they identify as a boy, his mom went from being very supportive of them being transgender at first to relief when he identified with his gender at birth. She treated Phoenix’s time as a girl as a dirty secret, deleting all of the old photos of her on Facebook and believing that all transgender people have mental issues. While I think it is important that multiple perspectives are important, especially in documentaries, ideas like this could be harmful when promoting something as important as transgender kids being themselves which is often looked down upon. I watched this film to get a younger perspective on the LGBTQIA+ community and I did. This film helped me better approach my documentary with how I can approach it with subjects like me, in mind.
There was another film I wanted to watch called Summer Qamp that debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, but it is currently waiting to be distributed so there was no way to easily access it. It is about a summer camp in Alberta, Canada for trans and non-binary kids to be themselves and find a community with kids that are like them.
Watching other documentaries similar to mine helped me get a better idea of how I can approach my documentary and make it flow thematically. Both documentaries were very useful in my research in different ways and I plan to apply the different techniques I learned in my piece. I learned a lot from both of these documentaries and they will have a positive impact on my final project.
"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself."
- Harvey Fierstein
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