Week 12 Screening: Tongues Untied

Marlon Riggs’s Tongues Untied reminds me of Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, in which both films address the experiences of black gay men, a demographic oppressed by the conventions of heterosexual society. However, while Moonlight focus on individual identity (at the end, the viewer sees a image of a young black boy, blue in the moonlight, standing at the edge of the beach alone), Tongues Untied instead focuses on a collective group of people: the men unite in community, expressing their disregard and rebellion towards the stereotype. I am impressed by the way Marlon Riggs utilized poetic rhythm in Tongues Untied as a dominant feature permeating the whole documentary.

The repetition of the phrase “brother to brother, brother to brother” and the fast transition of the footages, such as the close up of different men’ mouths as they devalue homosexuality juxtapose against shots of the filmmaker himself describes his personal experience. This evokes a sense of unease and tension that intrigues the viewer into a direct connection with the stories and individuals in the film.

The fact that Riggs’ voice is central to the film does not indicate that he is a representative of the black gay community. He speaks from his own traumatic experience and his voice is just one among many other voices that the viewer hears and witnesses in the film. Moreover, Riggs presents hands snapping and dance as an expression of cultural defiance and identity affirmation. At one point, the viewer sees footage of the vogue-dancers placed next to a black and white video of men dancing in the park, which demonstrates as a sense of community and resistance. Without a doubt, Marlon Riggs’s Tongues Untied brilliantly showcases the social movement of black gay men and the prejudices against their sexual orientation and identity by combining stylistic elements such as poetic imageries and rhythm of editing that allow the viewer to connect to the subject matter on a deeper level than most traditional documentaries do."

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