This week we are reading Robert O'Hara's Insurrection: Holding History and viewing Marlon Riggs's Tongues Untied.
In Insurrection, O'Hara questions the normative heterosexuality of slavery by centering the story of a gay black man as he complicates how history is remembered and recorded. Riggs presents the stifled stories of same sex loving black men, their familial and social relationships and ways that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has shaped the lives of queer black men. As you blog about queering blackness, think about how Ron and Marlon's stories shape your ideas of American history, theater and performance? How do these complicate how we understand blackness and its representation in American Theatre? In what ways do these stories "queer" dominant narratives about blackness, American history and sexual difference?
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The idea of queer identity in African American theatre I feel does not “queer” dominant narratives about blackness, but simply opens up the spectrum of diversity within the African American community and within art. As stated in pervious lectures on authenticity there is no set authenticity for blackness and therefore who is to say that someone who is queer cannot be authentically African American in their own sense.
ReplyDeleteI feel O’Hara achieves that in Insurrection by creating queerness within a sense that it shouldn’t be what matters most. Ron is gay, but it is addressed in such a casual manner as Mutha Wit talks to Ron, “You a faggot ain’t ya? When was you plannin’ on tellin’ me?---I knew when you was just 22 hours old…”(275). This almost casual address is not a reprimanding for being queer, but simply acknowledging that Ron simply is gay, and that the rest of the family knows never becomes a wedge between his identity and his family as much as his educated status does as Gurtha states, “…don’t neva git too high on readin’ and writin’ you can’t bump and grind wit’ yo’ folk” (269).
Queer performance, in African American culture, is working its way to still being excepted and tolerated, and brought back up through the past and into the present day. As this grows the idea of queer blacks will not be thought as away from the norm or any less authentic, but something diverse that can be celebrated.
The film Tongues Untied was a powerful moving piece that showed the homosexual relationships between black men, which is something that is rarely talked about in modern culture. When looking at some of the prime examples of homosexual relationships that gets portrayed in the media such as Will and Grace, The L Word, Queer as Folk and Dante’s Cove all of these shows have a common theme, all the main characters are white. It seems almost taboo to even mention black men who are gay, not just in white society but within the black community as well. Even though Noah’s Arc (a tv show centered around black men and homosexual relationships) has put a major crack in the glass, there still is this void in history where their voices should be. But why is there this void? In 1924 The Society for Human Rights in Chicago was this country’s earliest known gay rights organization (www.infoplease.com). During this time period black people in general where going through so much discrimination just for being black, that those who were gay maybe felt that to engage in any other argument was a little redundant, and because they were silent on GLBT issues, that’s how the void was formed. But as we dig deep into Robert O’Hara’s play Insurrection, which touches on another pivotal point in our American history such as slavery, you find that one of its main themes is oppression on top of oppression. And what I mean by this is, it’s hard enough being a person of color in America, but if you add homosexuality to the mix life becomes even more difficult.
ReplyDeleteIn Robert O’ Hara’s Insurrection: Holding History, we as an audience learn about a topic that has been almost completely non-existent. This part of history is very important yet nobody seems to talk about the issue at all. Homosexuality in today’s world is a topic that is debated for many different reasons. Although homosexual rights have grown dramatically since the time of slavery, it is still a growing debate topic in such areas as gay marriage. In O’Hara’s work he uses the character Ron as his homosexual representative of the slave era. Homosexuality amongst the black community seems to be a non-discussed topic so for O’hara to use Ron and write a play on the topic helps to op[en the eyes of the audience of all races. Using homosexuality allows for the audience to recognize the idea of being an African American in addition to something else that may hurt one’s reputation. By being both black and gay, Ron is destined to hardships and potential identity crisis because of non acceptance by anyone. The presence of God within the writing is interesting because many of these slaves were forced to be Christian, which teaches that homosexuality is wrong, and they are quick to vocalize their distaste for gays by repeating what the white Christian church has taught them. As slaves they try to escape physically but many cannot escape the white oppression mentally.
ReplyDeleteBeing a homosexual male in the black community is something that exists but is not necessarily accepted by blacks. In today’s society the gay and lesbian community is steadily growing and being treated like they belong, but that’s not the same treatment for black men in the black community. It’s like black men are held to that higher standard of being extremely masculine and the strong powerful being in the family, very tough and powerful; and black men pick up on that at a young age. Since black boys that go on to become black men has come to grips with that reality of being very much heterosexuals and masculine, so when they are attracted and want to be with another man it makes it that much harder to be open and truthful to others about it. As seen in the film, the black homosexual male felt like he did not have a voice and was silenced because he could not speak about him being gay and portraying himself as such. One, being a black man in society has its trials and tribulation, but being a black gay male takes on even more challenges and hardships to overcome. He has to deal with the pressures of his black family and friends passing judgment and maybe even writing him off and a family member or friend; then the tough task of presenting yourself as a valuable asset to have on a staff of a company being black as well as gay. A homosexual black male is like the ultimate minority in society not just the center of attention in the black community.
ReplyDeleteO’hara queered dominant narratives about American History. He brought to attention homosexuality within the lives of slaves. This is something that is never talked about in history or taught in American History classes. I do think O’hara felt it was important to address homosexuality within slaves but he did not take it as far as what he could have done with that theme. Ron’s sexuality never led to a struggle or obstacle in the play, it was as if the play would have the same outcome if Ron was heterosexual. This idea of O’hara of not having much of a reason behind this could also be explained by CAMP from lecture 4-13. I felt a little uncomfortable reading about the attraction between Ron and Hammet because it was very unexpected, which is the purpose of CAMP.
ReplyDeleteMarlon Riggs makes the isolation of the gay black man, and the hardships faced by said man boldly clear in Tongues Untied. The film illustrates the insensitivity and misunderstanding within the black community about issues such as being gay, or AIDS. Examples of this can be seen in things such about the harsh jokes in Eddie Murphy’s stand-up routine, as although these may be jokes it does not mean they don’t still actually represent the feelings of the community. Riggs spoke of the lack of images he could relate to as most of the gay media was of white men. The gay black presence seems pushed to the brink, as almost to be undetectable or unseen. This gay black image was also been pushed to the unseen in or recollection of the past, yet Robert O’Hara’s play, Insurrection: Holding History, directly places the gay aspect into history. The many stereotypes depicted in the play boldly stand out. This play almost made me wonder why did Ron need to be gay? This question indeed seems to be the point behind the play. It doesn’t matter if he was gay or not, the history would have been the same. However this is the untold stories because socially unfavorable aspects have been erased over time. This left the message for me that gay black man must make their presence known, similar to the message given in the title “Tongues Untied”, as to speak up and not let their history also go unreported.
ReplyDelete“There is no tender mercy for men of color” is a statement made in Marlon Riggs documentary Tongues Untied. Not only is this statement true about themes we’ve been talking about all semester, like racism and intra-racial conflict, but also about the cross between race and sexuality. Within Riggs documentary, the stories of homosexual black men are told, and most are not pretty. It is explained that being black and gay is not acceptable in society (mainstream and African American). This idea is also prevalent in the play Insurrection: Holding History. There is a discussion on page 276 between Ron and Mutha Wit that sounded strangely familiar:
ReplyDeleteRON: Only Faggots are allowed to call each other Faggots. No. Body. Else.
MUTHA WIT: I heard lotsa folks that weren’t no faggots callin each otha faggots.
RON: Well they’re not allowed to.
This discussion reminded me of who is “socially acceptable” to use the word “nigger” in popular culture. In today’s society the use of the word is only acceptable in African American culture. The use of this word by someone white is considered offensive. The correlation between the word “faggot” and “nigger” is interesting. Both were originally used as derogatory terms, but like we’ve discussed in class (Lecture, Jan 14) the acceptance of “nigger” or “negro” has evolved. Could this eventually be the same for the word “faggot”? I believe the combination of being black and homosexual is strained in African American culture because of this history. Having to overcome so much as a race is a struggle and adding homosexuality to the mix could be considered problematic.
The use of camp in Insurrection:Holding History is very useful for such an overwhelmingly heavy topic such as homosexuality in the african american culture, to lighten the mood to allow for further dialogue on the topic to be possible. I love that a question of the piece is "why is the main character gay?" While it is true that this play could just have easily been written with a heterosexual protagonist, the fact that the protagonist is gay and is in a plotline that could just have easily been written with a straight man or a bisexual cat allows the door to open slightly for sexual orientation to not matter. It is used as an afterthought in this play so that we can use it as an afterthought in society. Tongues Untied shows that african american individuals still have a vibrant homosexual community, but that due to pride, it is deeply hidden and suppressed even by members of the community.
ReplyDeleteIndefinitely politics arise when using the word queer when associated with authenticity of blackness. Some may feel it does not belong and others feel that queerness already a real part of the African American community. No one can define what blackness and what belongs and what stays. Queer is not always attributed to homosexuality it can be labeled to an individual, place or thing. Since blackness it not entirely defined or understood can it not be queer in itself? Ultimately the black gay community has a twofold experience when confronted by society. They can be racially discredited because of ethnicity and or shunned due to homosexuality. Most of us know the inequality dealing with race and their boundaries as well as stereotypes common people absorbed in their minds. However when it comes to homosexuality in theatre it is merely opening the divide a little wider for black theatre. But not without any discretion from society that is openly anti gay and covertly racist towards blacks. O’Hara crosses both boundaries and creates a play that gives a dualistic approach to gays and slavery. Ron going back in time to witness oppression of slavery was pivotal piece to the story in my eyes. I think Ron’s character metaphorically may have represented the vehicle of homosexual voice and their hopes to overcome oppression. His witnessing the slaughter of 200 slaves of the past could represent his rights and voice of the present struggles he may have to surmount.
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