1. Content

2. Release and reception

3. Tongues Untied @ 30

4. See also

5. References

6. External links

Content

The film blends documentary footage with personal account and poetry in an attempt to depict the specificity of black gay identity. The "silence" referred to throughout the film is that of black gay men, who are unable to express themselves because of the prejudices of white and black heterosexual society, as well as the white gay society.

Riggs brings awareness to the issues Black gay men face.^[2] They are excluded from gay communities because these communities are white-centered and fail to understand the intersecting identities of race and sexuality. Riggs experienced this in San Francisco, California within the Castro District, in which he states, “I was immersed in vanilla” and witnessed the absences of the Black gay image. In addition, Riggs gives examples of media in which Black men are hypersexualized for white sexual pleasure and racistly portrayed Black individuals. Black gay men are placed in a divide because their voices are excluded from these LGBTQIA+ communities, but their bodies are sexualized for white viewing pleasure.^[3] Furthermore, Black men are supposed to represent hyper-masculinity, and when Black gay men associate with homosexuality, they are seen as being weak.^[4] With their gay identity, however, a Black men is expected to be both hyper-feminine and hyper-masculine.^[5] These are the stereotypes and stigmas that oppress Black gay men.^[6] In their Black communities, black homophobia is also present.^[7] Riggs displays footage of church leaders preaching that gay relationships are an abomination and Black political activists who consider black and gay to be a conflict of loyalties.^[8]

The narrative structure of Tongues Untied is both interesting and unconventional. Besides including documentary footage detailing North American black gay culture, Riggs also tells of his own experiences as a gay man. These include the realization of his sexual identity and of coping with the deaths of many of his friends to AIDS. Other elements within the film include footage of the Civil Rights Movement and clips of Eddie Murphy performing a homophobic stand-up routine.

The documentary dealt with the simultaneous critique of the politics of racism, homophobia and exclusion as they are intertwined with contemporary sexual politics. The film is a part of a body of recently released films and videos, which examine central issues in the lives of lesbian and gay Black people. Riggs’ work challenged television’s generic boundaries of conformity during the late 80s and early 90s. The television documentary during this time was the conventional talking head, expert interviews, and personal testimonials commonly on public affair issues.

Release and reception

At the time of its release, the film was considered controversial because of its frank portrayal of gay sexuality. Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan cited Tongues Untied as an example of how President George H. W. Bush was using taxpayer's money to fund "pornographic art". In his defense, Riggs stated that, "Implicit in the much overworked rhetoric of community standards is the assumption of only one central community (patriarchal, heterosexual and usually white) and only one overarching cultural standard ditto."

Tongues Untied @ 30

Fall, 2019 marks 30 years since the release of "Tongues Untied," and 25 years since Riggs passed. To honor this anniversary, Signifyin' Works President Vivian Kleiman has launched "TONGUES UNTIED @ 30"—an international celebration of Riggs' life and work. It will launch with an 8-day retrospective of his entire body of work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This comprehensive series will also include work that influenced Riggs and work that was influenced by him. Other confirmed locations include: Atlanta, Berkeley, Honolulu, Mumbai, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Yale Film Studies.

See also

• African-American culture and sexual orientation

References

• Black American Cinema, Manthia Diawara.
• Resolutions: Contemporary Video Practices, (eds. Renov, Michael & Erika Suderburg) (London, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996).
• {{cite book|last=Gerstner|first=David|title=Queer Pollen: White Seduction, Black Male Homosexuality, and the Cinematic|year=2011|publisher=Urbana: University of Illinois Press|pages=138–213|url=http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/54nwb2ds9780252035906.html}}
• Racial Difference and the Homoerotic imaginary, Kobena Mercer

External links

• {{IMDb title|0103099|Tongues Untied}}
• {{allrovi movie|201058|Tongues Untied}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|tongues-untied|Tongues Untied}}
• Tongues Untied at California Newsreel

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