#Marlon Riggs

[roseillith]

ETHNIC NOTIONS (1986) dir. MARLON RIGGS

[mirroredroads]

generational anger. Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1989) / The Noise Must Become Music by Fumi Nakamura / Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides, Anne Carson / The House with the Black Door by James Hutton / Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Jeanette Winterson

[andrewisdoing]

Things That Definitely Made Me GAY (Part 2):

MUSIC ICONS: Part of my Coming Out would be incomplete without the music that found me during that time. I’d wager my survival had every bit to do with the singers, songwriters and entertainers I was playing at the time. I especially credit Madonna, Janet Jackson, Barbara Streisand and Rufus Wainwright. They were the unexpected heroes in my ears everyday reminding me it was okay to embrace the dramatic, funny, complex, sexual situations of life in song.

FILMS: I am a firm believer that people are always searching for bits of themselves in the movies. So, being the teen I was, I wanted to find parts of my being in the movies to be affirmed that I wasn’t alone. Whether it was a documentary or rom-com, I wanted to escape into a potential future or an idea of what it looked like to be a gay man in 2009. Documentaries were a gift from heaven because I got to see where we had been and where we were going. I still feel that way as a 30 year old. I feel like I still am eager to see stories of us and find parts of myself on celluloid.

VOGUEING/PARIS IS BURNING: This movie quite simply changed and saved my life in a LOT of ways. When Madonna’s Vogue (BEST SONG FOREVER ON REPEAT) came into my life, my godmother introduced to me to the Houses of New York City, the Ballrooms and the origins of Vogueing. I had never felt so seen as a black gay person in a film prior to seeing PIB. It was the antidote to existing in a suburb in Washington. To know I wasn’t alone in the world and that there was a place beyond Washington where people like me exist, was (and still is) the greatest gift anyone, especially from kin, could’ve given me.

QUEER AS FOLK: THIS SHOW TOOK ME THERE. I remember hiding the box sets at many friends’ houses when I first had come out. While the show can be a bit dated, the stories and original characters really shaped what being a part of the LGBTQ+ community could potentially be as I grew into adulthood.

HISTORY: When I first came out, I made it my personal mission to read up on all things gay history to understand who came before me and whose footsteps I was walking behind. I found so much solace in the bravery we displayed as a community. I know that I am free to be me because of the folks who came before me. I hope that as time goes on, we discover more unsung gay heroes.

HEROES: I went out to of my way to find people who were like me and people who had the same interests as me. Finding people who made me feel understood and created the work to express all the facets of not only the human experience but the gay experience. Whether it be through dance, poetry, filmmaking or photography, I credit these artists for saving my life through their work.

FATSO: Some kids first cartoon crushes were Aladdin, Hercules, HELL, I could even bet that some had crushes on The Beast, BEFORE HE BECAME HUMAN! Me? Mine was (and still is) Fatso. Some have read him as a queer coded character and for my sake, I really hope that it’s true.

PORN & The Pornstars That Make Em’ : As weird as it may seem, discovering Porn really helped me feel liberated and free to understand my sexuality and what I really liked. Also..boy, oh boy, the men and the videos that still to this day..get me off is a list that’s too long to count. From Zeb Atlas to Tom Katt, these men served the fantasies that were so hot and beefy, I still can’t believe my eyes. Being gay certainly has its perks.

NOAH’S ARC: In the same vein as QAF, Noah’s Arc made me feel not only seen as a gay man but as a black man. I love that the show gave the community so many versions of our existence. Making us more than a side character or the uplifting and sassy character, at that. We were portrayed as human and proof that we exist.

[certainwoman]

Tongues Untied (1989), dir. Marlon Riggs

[fixy8ed4xys]

Marlon Riggs 1957-94 Essex Hemphill 1957-95

Tounges Untied dir. Marlon Riggs, poetry by Essex Hemphill

"If His Name Were Mandigo" poetry & reading Essex Hemphill

[alexlipscomb]

queer art archive website mockup , 2023, digital

[framesdump]

Anthem (Marlon Riggs, 1992)

[genevieveetguy]

. Black men loving black men is the revolutionary act.

Tongues Untied, Marlon Riggs (1989)

[12tableaux]

Black Is... Black Ain't (Marlon Riggs, 1994)

[atna2-34-75]

Marlon Riggs, Anthem, 1991

[qfm23-df]

Tongues Untied (1989)

“Black men loving Black men is the revolutionary act.”

In one of the best “short films” (spanning just 5 minutes under the category “feature film”) I have maybe ever seen, filmmaker Marlon Riggs bears his soul in the exploration what Black male homosexuality means in 1980s America and, more importantly, what that identity it means to him. The format of this film is something that I have not witnessed in a very long time. The pace, writing, the cinematography, and the narration work in perfect harmony to create what feels like an anthology poetry book. 

Tongues Untied (1989) is a series of art pieces set around the premise that Black Homosexuality is something revolutionary. It is in this way that it relates itself to our reading by Senthorun Raj; Grindring Bodies: Racial and Affective Economies of Online Queer Desire. While the film does not relate at all to the latter implication of the title (Online* Queer Desire) it does touch on the beginning observations about Black Queer sexuality in the modern age. In the first couple of pages Raj dissects whiteness and comes to the conclusion that , “...Whiteness, then, is an inherited system of privileges (Han 2006: 3)”. No one featured in Riggs’ film is white, this is a film exclusively about the Black Male same-sex attraction experience, meaning, this is a kind of love that is not “allowed” by said inherited system of privileges; it is in fact looked down upon even as late as the era of 1990s New Queer Cinema in America. The second part of that is that, again, Marlon is exploring Homosexuality and Queerness which is; “Sex that does not conform to this social imaginary is normalised as dangerous to the health and wellbeing of society”. In the case of all of these Riggs’ filmic thesis is proven to be true, Black Men loving Black Men is, indeed, a revolutionary act.

[roseillith]

COLOR ADJUSTMENT (1990) dir. MARLON RIGGS

[twentiethcenturypic]

black is … black ain’t, 1994 marlon riggs

[nerdlifeisbetterthanreallife]

#30DaysofPride: Day 21- Essex Hemphill

I wrote this post last year when I was interning at CLAGS and so it’s a little CLAGS-centered but I really like this one!!! So today I bring you an important person in the black gay community, Essex Hemphill. Property of the estate of Robert Giard Essex Hemphill was born in Chicago and grew up in Southeast Washington, DC. A poet and performer known for his political edge, he openly addressed…

[xtrablak674]

It was I think 93 maybe ninety-four I was eating out with some friends at a Chinese restaurant on Seventh Avenue right below Christopher Street and I saw Mr. Riggs leaving, I don't usually do this, but I stopped him and thanked him for his excellent body of work. I didn't know it then but he was dead within a year or less. But his body of work influenced and helped to shape my young gay identity, it was such an honor to have a brief moment with him.

Marlon Riggs - Tongues Untied (1989)