Paris Is Burning Page #2

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you know?

It's a good high.

It's an addictive high,

like all highs,

in the long run,

turn out to be.

But it's a high

that won't hurt you.

If everybody went to balls

and did less drugs,

it'd be a fun world,

wouldn't it?

I'm dressing, of course,

to go to a show,

because I've always done this

professionally

and I was a dancer.

And I'm trying to remember

when the first time I went to a ball

that was the early-type ball

when everybody just walked

and they gave away, like, four

or five prizes

in a very limited category.

And the children now,

most of them,

75 percent of the children

you see at the ball,

wouldn't know what a ball was

if it knocked them in the head.

When I first started

going to balls, it was all about drag queens

and they were interested

in looking like Las Vegas showgirls -

back pieces, tail pieces,

feathers, beads and all that.

But as the '70s rolled around,

the things started changing.

It started coming down. They just wanted

to look like a gorgeous movie star...

like Marilyn Monroe,

Elizabeth Taylor.

And now, they've went from that

to trying to look like models -

like Iman

and Christie Brinkley

and Maud Adams

and all those children.

(Dorian) Everyone couldn't

be a Las Vegas showgirl.

Everyone couldn't put on

a stack of feathers and a big headpiece.

So they made the categories

for everybody.

That's what really made

the balls change.

So there was more

involvement.

Everyone that goes

to one of these affairs now

damn near participates.

Eventually, over the course

of a year's balls,

they've all walked the runway

in some category or another.

Either you've got a nice body

or you are very fashionable

or you're very pretty

or you're very real-looking,

but there's always something

there for everyone.

And that's what keeps

them all coming.

And it's like in nature -

I'm such a nature fan -

the young ones

are always bucking

to move the old bulls

out of the way.

That's why they change

and go through all these mad categories

that I never can

stay awake for.

Upcoming Pretty Girl 1986,

take it to the floor.

They're showing up

for the press.

Audience, please back up

and give them air.

Next category,

High-Fashion Winter Sportswear.

The Poconos versus

the Catskills.

Sexy body.

Is there anyone walking?

Some children were asking me

what I meant by "Miss Cheesecake."

That means you must not only

have a body,

but you must be sexy.

A lot of people have bodies

but are not sexy.

Best body!

Body, body, body!

And curves!

A body that says,

"Come up and see me sometime, big boys."

Going to school. School.

Elementary,

high school, college.

Not here. School.

(cheering)

Looking like a girl

going to school.

Do she look like a girl

going to school?

Town and Country,

exclusively done.

(man) Dupree, Dupree, Dupree.

Get into their suits.

I said,

the well-dressed man

of the '80s,

get into the suits

and get into the pumps.

(Dorian) In real life,

you can't get a job as an executive

unless you have

the educational background

and the opportunity.

Now, the fact that you

are not an executive

is merely because of

the social standing of life.

That is just the pure thing.

Black people have a hard time

getting anywhere.

And those that do

are usually straight.

In a ballroom,

you can be anything you want.

You're not really an executive,

but you're looking like an executive.

And therefore, you're showing the

straight world that I can be an executive.

If I had the opportunity,

I could be one,

because I can look like one.

And that is, like,

a fulfillment.

Your peers, your friends

are telling you,

"Oh, you'd make

a wonderful executive."

Is this the businessmen

of the '80s or what?

High-Fashion Parisian,

model Yvette.

Shante, shante, shante,

shante, shante, shante, shante.

Model!

Thin, streamlined, trim, model!

(man) The category is

Butch Queen First Time in Drags at a Ball.

You know what I mean!

You know what Paris means.

Exactly! Butch Queen!

Butch Queen.

Butch Queen!

Butch Queen.

Butch!

(cheering)

First Time in Drags at a Ball,

that's what I wanted from you.

( "The Star-Spangled Banner")

(man) The military scene

is a basic scene.

It doesn't call for a bunch

of flamboyant turkey boas

and bugle beads, rhinestones.

It's a basic category.

The more natural you are,

the more credit your outfit is given.

Come on now, it is a known fact

that a woman do carry

an evening bag at dinnertime.

There's no getting around that!

You see it on Channel Seven

between All My Children and Jeopardy!,

Another World, Dallas

and the whole bit.

An evening bag is a must!

You have to carry something!

No lady is sure at night.

With the current children,

the children that are young,

they've gone to television,

you know?

I've been through several balls,

and they've actually

had categories - Dynasty.

You know, want you to look

like Alexis or Krystle.

And I guess that's just

a statement of the times.

When I grew up, you wanted

to look like Marlene Dietrich,

Betty Grable.

Unfortunately, I didn't know that

I really wanted to look like Lena Horne.

When I grew up,

of course, you know...

black stars were stigmatized.

Nobody wanted to look

like Lena Horne.

Everybody wanted

to look like Marilyn Monroe.

( "Got to be Real"

by Cheryl Lynn)

What you find..

(Pepper) When you're

a man and a woman, you can do anything.

You can... You can almost

have sex on the streets if you want to.

The most somebody's gonna say

is, "Hey, get a hump for me," you know.

But when you're gay,

you monitor everything you do.

You monitor how you look,

how you dress,

how you talk, how you act.

"Do they see me?

What do they think of me?"

What you know-ah

To be real

(Dorian) To be able to blend.

That's what realness is.

You know that your love

is my love

If you can pass the untrained

eye, or even the trained eye,

and not give away the fact

that you're gay,

that's when it's realness.

Banji, looking like the boy

that probably robbed you

a few minutes before

you came to Paris's Ball.

The idea of realness

is to look as much as possible

like your straight counterpart.

Shake the dice and steal the rice!

Right here. Come on, baby.

(cheering)

Yes, Daddy, I got my food stamps

and card waiting.

All right.

Dust coat, bay soap,

Rolaids, you got it.

(Dorian) The realer you look

means you look like a real woman.

Or you look like a real man.

A straight man.

Sweetheart with the cigarette,

you're giving me

a Banji girl effect.

This is Banji.

You know, the girls that be on the

corner talking about "young man."

One that can hang out

with the rough and the tough...

(Pepper) It's not a takeoff

or a satire.

No. It's actually being

able to be this.

Brenda Xtravaganza,

looking like a Banji girl.

Banji. Banji girl realness.

You know, one that could

take her little baby brother to school.

One that say, you know, like:

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