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evIeW on pariah
reclaIM on queer
Heartbreak opens onto the sunrise. For even
breaking is opening and I am broken.
This is the opening line to a poem featured in
the contemporary drama, “Pariah,” which was
written by Adepero Oduye’s character, Alike.
“Pariah” made its world premiere at the 2011
Sundance Film Festival. It is the feature-length
expansion of writer/director Dee Rees’
award-winning 2007 short film of the same
name. Among its growing accolades,
cinematographer Bradford Young was honored
with the U.S. Dramatic Competition Excellence
in Cine ah-lee-keh), a 17-year-old African-
American woman who lives with her parents
Audrey and Arthur (played by Kim Wayans and
Charles Parnell) and younger sister Sharonda
(Sahra Mellesse) in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene
neighborhood. She is a high school senior and
poet who dreams of finding comfort in her
own skin.
As the story opens, Alike is quietly but firmly
embracing her queer identity. With the
sometimes boisterous support of her best
friend and butch (or bucha, or buxa) mentor
Laura (Pernell Walker), Alike is especially
eager to find a girlfriend. At home, her parents’
marriage is strained and there is further
tension in the household whenever Alike’s
development becomes a topic of discussion.
Pressed by her mother to befriend a colleague’s
daughter, Bina (Aasha Davis), Alike finds Bina
to be unexpectedly refreshing to socialize with
in comparison to the wild escapades Laura
pulls her into.
Never trusting how much she can confide in her
family, Alike strives to get through adoles cence
with grace, humor, and tenacity—sometimes
succeeding, sometimes not, but always
moving forward.
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friends, culture, and the reality of the society
we live in has left us emotionally battered
and, many times, physically scarred as well.
Alike’s poem resonated with me. we don’t
choose who we are attracted to, the act of
choosing on our own volition can be liberating
yet terrifying, especially when the reality can
also be dangerous.
I am broken. I am broken open.
by Brieanne Buttner
My spirit takes journey. My spirit takes flight,
and I am not running, I am choosing.
For many queers of color, coming out is a
process that challenges one’s core identity and
can be an ongoing process. Navigating family,
I appreciated being able to see this film at
my favorite theater in Los Angeles, The Vista,
as well as at the Los Angeles premiere at the
Village at Ed Gould Plaza, an extension of
the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. I
was able to experience the film along with
people who, like myself, have created their
own safety net in the queer people of color
(QPOC) communities nestled throughout the
city. Viewers not only indulged in the beauty
and richness of the film, but were able to
collectively remember pieces of their own
coming-out process on screen. In the Q&A
session following the film, audience members
were able to share the intensity and emotion
this beautiful film brought out of them. At
the after-party following the premiere, fellow
movie goers and several cast members
celebrated the magnificence of our resistance,
our emergence, and our existence in the face
of our challenges.
Breaking is freeing. Broken is freedom. I am
not broken. I am free.
FOR MUCH MORE,
go to http://focusfeatures.com/pariah
BrIeanne Buttner is a person who identifies as a queer xicana. She has lived in Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles for
the last seven years and loves dancing, hanging out, laughing and using her brain.
brieanne.buttner@yahoo.com