Pariah Presentation — Andrew Sinclair

Dee Rees' 2011 film Pariah discusses topics queer sexuality through the lens of its lesbian protagonist, Alike, or "Lee" (Adepero Oduye). Her oppressive mother (Kim Wayans) and her father in denial (Charles Parnell) struggle to watch Lee come to accept herself and her identity. She experiments with her presentation and sexuality, studies the craft of poetry, acquires feelings for a girl from her church (Aasha Davis), and eventually comes out.

At the film's denouement, after she comes out and must face the life ahead of her, Lee stares off into the distance.

Lee attempts to reconcile with her homophobic mother, though she is cold and unwavering in her prejudice.

The significance of Pariah is its existence; in a world where adults paint teenage queerness as confusion or indoctrination, it can often feel like coming-of-age is one of the greatest challenges of queer life. Because our culture frames heterosexuality and cisgender identity as the status quo, discovery of one's queerness can be confusing, frustrating, or scary. There's the prospect of coming out, of having to live an "atypical" life, of having to find one's own way. Lee's narrative, however, tells us how, through heartbreak and rejection on the basis of sexuality, we will find our paths. Pariah's narrative is revolutionary in that it normalizes queerness and echoes the experiences of many through its singular portrayal, creating solidarity. Queer people can identify that their struggles are not contained to themselves but a problem with our culture; through this, we can rally against heterosexual hegemony's othering of queerness which allows it to reject those identities.

Discussion Questions

1. Throughout Pariah, Lee's father refuses to acknowledge Lee's increasingly apparent sexuality. Why do you think this denial would occur in a queer narrative?

2. Lee recites one of her poems at the beginning of Pariah's trailer. Why do you think this expression would be so important to a queer person like Lee?

Comments

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