Critical Thinking: Paris is Burning

A good documentary should have many different view points. That way most of the aspects can be shown from many angles. With different perspectives, the audience will be able to see what different types of people think of the subject. That way they can get a sense of what some of the population thinks of it. The audience can also try and compare their thoughts with the thoughts of others. A documentary should also clearly show the point that the director is trying to get across. Or get the point out there and leave it in the open, if the director wants a vague feeling with questions unanswered. Good documentaries should also have interviews with people that the director doesn't know personally. That way, the subject can be shown through other people's words. And since they won’t know the director, they won’t be influenced as much as if they knew him/her.

The film "Paris is Burning" was a pretty good documentary and fit into most of the criteria. And it even went beyond because the director took her time to show her point and took over 5 years before deciding to end her filming. The film also had many interviews with different gay people. And as Livingston had wanted us to perhaps start thinking of why the gays do what they do, it’s seems okay that there wasn’t interviews with the straight people. Having a straight perspective in this documentary wouldn’t have made much a difference, since the main point is only circulating around the gay population. This documentary was great and very informative. It was even entertaining and interesting. It showed very clearly what the gay population had to go through back in the 80's and early 90's.