Summary
At a shopping mall, Eileen Ford of Ford Models explains what makes a supermodel.
In a competition for "Supermodel of the Year," Octavia Saint Laurent interviews among a number of women aspiring to be models. Back home, she muses that she sees a bright future for herself.
Venus Xtravaganza, in her home, also fantasizes about her future, which includes gender reassignment surgery, a nice house, a loving partner, and a modeling career.
Jumping to New York in 1989, the film shows vogueing footage from a ball before providing newsreel footage of popular icons discussing what vogueing is and why it is important. The footage also mentions the AIDS epidemic and the efforts made to raise money for research.
Willi Ninja, in 1989, explains how successful he has been in the last decade since vogueing became popular. He says the balls have gotten "toned down" over the years. He says that things have really changed and that "New York's not even the same anymore."
In an interview with Angie Xtravaganza, she says that she always told Venus to be careful on the streets. She recalls being contacted by police and being shown a photo of Venus's body, strangled to death in a "sleazy hotel in New York City."
Dorian Corey, while getting ready for a show, says that these days she no longer aspires to "bend the whole world," but simply to enjoy life. "If you shoot an arrow and it goes real high," she says, "hooray for you."
Analysis
The final section of the film jumps forward in time to 1989 in order to show how things within the queer community have changed over the last decade. For some, the trickling of queer culture into the mainstream has paid off – as in the case of Willi Ninja, who successfully helped bring vogueing and other queer-inspired dances to the attention of mainstream artists. Simultaneously, however, the queer community as a whole has suffered from the devastation of the AIDS epidemic, which many argue was the reason for the disintegration of ball culture in the first place. Both Dorian Corey and Willi Ninja note that the balls themselves have changed; participants are different, the structure is different, and they are now frequently "boring," which they never were before.
Through these 1989 interviews, the film showcases how the emergence of queer culture in mainstream society has been a double-edged sword for the queer community. When Willi Ninja says that even New York City "is not the same anymore," he nods toward the beginning of gentrification, in which wealthy white citizens move into minority communities and drive up the cost of living. Indeed, New York City is now one of the most expensive places in the world to live, and many minorities have been pushed to the outer boroughs.
When Angie Xtravaganza reveals that Venus Xtravaganza was murdered shortly after filming her interviews for Paris is Burning, she showcases for the viewer the stakes of Venus's life as a trans sex worker in New York City. Angie is devastated by Venus's death, but she speaks frankly and honestly about the fact that being someone like Venus in a world where queer people were subject to daily violence and sexual assault was a risky existence. She therefore emphasizes how difficult it is for members of the queer community to even exist peacefully in a mainstream, heteronormative society.
Coupled with the news of Venus's death is Dorian Corey's somewhat resigned but nonetheless hopeful outlook for the future, in which she encourages people to simply enjoy the life they have rather than chasing after fantasies or living dangerously. When she says, "if you shoot an arrow and it goes real high, hooray for you," she celebrates those who have made names for themselves outside of ball culture while also asserting that fame and notoriety are not the most important things in the world.
Through this final interview, the film suggests that the "point" of its subject matter – balls and the queer community more generally – is fostering relationships, honing one's craft, having fun, and radical acceptance in an otherwise prejudiced world.
