...it amazes me that I can still recall so much of PARIS IS BURNING.
Though not gay myself, I befriended a number of GLBTQs during my 11-year stint as a member of the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW cult. By the time PARIS IS BURNING came out (no pun intended), I had been going to midnight screenings of RHPS for seven years and had developed a deep compassion for the GLBTQ community. Given my conservative working-class upbringing, that was nothing short of a miracle.
Sorry, I don't mean to make this review about me. What prompted it was that earlier tonight, I caught a trailer for the 30th-anniversary restored print. It got me wondering whatever became of the people from PARIS IS BURNING, so I did a Google search. A depressing number of them are dead now--including Octavia Saint Laurent, who was born just two years before I was.
Admittedly, I'm typing these words with moist eyes after having learned of the deaths of so many of these people. In certain aspects, I could identify with them all. I truly believe the world is a poorer place without them.
At times, those folks made me laugh. At other times, their personal histories made me profoundly sad. At still other times, their words got me angry. (Some of them were so-o-o materialistic!) And my heart sank when the film ended with the news that Venus Xtravanganza had been murdered before the film was even complete. (She was a mere ten months older than me.)
I also wonder about the kids from PARIS IS BURNING. The ones who are still alive would be in their mid to late forties now. I only hope that life turned out OK for them.
May Venus and Octavia, along with Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Paris Dupree, Willi Ninja, Kim Pendavis, Angie and Danny Xtravaganza, and Eileen Ford all find the happiness and inner peace in death that so often eluded them in life.
Unfortunately, my local art house is only showing the restored print for one night--and I have other plans. Here's hoping there's a DVD release.
Though not gay myself, I befriended a number of GLBTQs during my 11-year stint as a member of the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW cult. By the time PARIS IS BURNING came out (no pun intended), I had been going to midnight screenings of RHPS for seven years and had developed a deep compassion for the GLBTQ community. Given my conservative working-class upbringing, that was nothing short of a miracle.
Sorry, I don't mean to make this review about me. What prompted it was that earlier tonight, I caught a trailer for the 30th-anniversary restored print. It got me wondering whatever became of the people from PARIS IS BURNING, so I did a Google search. A depressing number of them are dead now--including Octavia Saint Laurent, who was born just two years before I was.
Admittedly, I'm typing these words with moist eyes after having learned of the deaths of so many of these people. In certain aspects, I could identify with them all. I truly believe the world is a poorer place without them.
At times, those folks made me laugh. At other times, their personal histories made me profoundly sad. At still other times, their words got me angry. (Some of them were so-o-o materialistic!) And my heart sank when the film ended with the news that Venus Xtravanganza had been murdered before the film was even complete. (She was a mere ten months older than me.)
I also wonder about the kids from PARIS IS BURNING. The ones who are still alive would be in their mid to late forties now. I only hope that life turned out OK for them.
May Venus and Octavia, along with Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Paris Dupree, Willi Ninja, Kim Pendavis, Angie and Danny Xtravaganza, and Eileen Ford all find the happiness and inner peace in death that so often eluded them in life.
Unfortunately, my local art house is only showing the restored print for one night--and I have other plans. Here's hoping there's a DVD release.