Your humble narrator has wondered why, even from a young age, society didn't consider Black women to be as attractive as white women. Jennifer Holness explores this question in Subjects of Desire, a documentary that focuses on this question.
The frame of the film is contenders for the 50th anniversary of the Miss Black America Pageant, originally started as a protest over not seeing Black women in the Miss America pageant. The women in the pageant are theoretically at the epitome of Black female beauty.
The history in the documentary is from the American side. Canadian documentaries are rarely just about Canada these days and Subjects of Desire is no exception.
The film also delves in contrasts in skin tone, i.e., light vs. dark. Black female voices discussing these and other issues is fascinating to watch, almost like you are hiding in the back of the room, listening in on the conversation.
Subjects of Desire goes slightly off track at times. The history of white women who commit cultural appropriation of Black women is important, but the film dwells too much on the actions of certain current reality TV stars. There is an exchange of sorts of Black women talking about Rachel Dolezal interspersed with Rachel Dolezal telling her story. This subplot drifted away from the overall message of the documentary. These are not the strongest parts of the documentary.
There is an intriguing balancing act toward going against stereotypes of sexualized Black women versus the desire to think of Black women as pretty. The film shows the difficulty of resolving that dynamic.
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While this is the full length feature debut for Jennifer Holness, she has had a huge presence with her husband Sudz Sutherland. Their work, including Love, Sex and Eating the Bones as well as Shoot the Messenger has made a solid impact. Holness sets everything up well and her subjects are very comfortable saying how they feel.
Most of the audience reading this film review could walk away, saying they don't need to see this film. Those people are mistaken. The subject is important and interesting. The story has a good flow. You'll get to learn a lot about people you might not normally interact with outside the theatre. You will learn a lot.
Subjects of Desire made the TIFF Top 10 Canadian films list for 2021.
Subjects of Desire is available on TV Ontario in Canada and Starz in the United States.
video credit: YouTube/Hungry Eyes Media Inc.
photo credit: Subjects of Desire film
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