O P U L E N C E: You Own Everything


Lauren Calhoun

Professor Harris

 ENGL 2016

1 December 2024


O P U L E N C E: You Own Everything

[Collage is on the last page]

The queer ballroom scene of the 80s fits in an Afrofuturist framework because it reimagines cultural norms. It begs the questions: what if blackness and queerness were celebrated? What if they were the standard? It also fits this framework through its fantastical expressions of black creativity/identity and the social movements that were prominent in the scene at the time. 

Under the “New York City” banner, lies the ballroom world, represented by drag queens from the seminal ballroom film “Paris is Burning”. In the movie, many ballroom participants said the inclusivity in the scene makes their otherwise “otherness” feel celebrated. This is depicted in the collage with the black women covering up the faces of the white models in the bottom right corner. Above the banner, lies the actuality of NYC or “the real world”, so-called by the queens in the movie. The disco ball overshadows it as, for once, whiteness is not the focus. 

The excessive use of gold and gold leaf represents the gilded nature of ballroom culture at this time. The Keith Haring painting in the top right and protest signs in the background represent the AIDs crisis, which hit the ballroom scene hard; many participants were sex workers and/or were unhoused. The glitter, feather, and gold of the shows were shelter from the unrelenting strife of the“real world”. The three doves symbolize the lives lost in the AIDs crisis or to hate crimes.

The hieroglyphics in the top left corner symbolize black creativity. According to the film, voguing was created when two queens were arguing and decided to dance to settle the disagreement. Ninja, a voguer and choreographer, states that some voguing moves were derived from hieroglyphics, gymnastics, and poses from the titular magazine.



 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Afrofuturism and Agriculture

  Hannah Huddleston Dr. Jaleesa Harris ENGL2016- 44378 11 November 2024 Afrofuturism and Agriculture Afrofuturism and Agriculture. What do you know about them? Let me tell you what I know about these two terms separately. Agriculture is the science of cultivating, producing, and raising livestock for food. In common terms, it is called “Farming.” Farming is the most important concept/activity that is done and educated on because it is the reason we are living. Afrofuturism is a concept that uses science fiction to reimagine or enhance a future or the past for African Americans. The idea holds importance in many avenues such as music, art, film, fashion, architecture, etc.… In this instance the avenue that will be dissected and discussed is agriculture and how it is Afrofuturistic. This paper will be like reading a timeline. We will first talk about Afrofuturism; the different definitions along with examples of it in different texts along with the different elements that will rela...
Read more

Afrofuturism in Societal Norms: An Interview

  Sierra Barrera Dr. Harris ENGL 2016 December 3, 2024 Afrofuturism in Societal Norms: Black culture is undeniably an influence in society worldwide. Its influence stems from entertainment, music, literature, all the way to foods, clothing styles, and hairstyles. Afrofuturism encompasses these elements of the past and the present and introduces a reimagining of the future- ultimately it is the past with the future. Examples of this broad genre can be found nuanced in many things most people encounter on a daily basis. This project intends to shed light on how Afrofuturism is encountered in life, and how one could be more aware of it in their own. This project was done in the form of an interview where text from Dark Matter , a compilation of speculative fiction under the genre of Afrofuturism, was used as a background and introduction to the meaning of Afrofuturism. After reading excerpts of The Comet by W.E.B. Du Bois and The Becoming by Akua Lezli Hope, volunteers were then ask...
Read more