Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Tongues Untied

 Tongues Untied
type
TVTItem
 Tongues Untied
label
Tongues Untied
 Tongues Untied
page
TonguesUntied
 Tongues Untied
comment
Tongues Untied is a 1989 film directed by Marlon C. Riggs.It is a documentary about the black gay experience in America, and the "silence" endured by black men in a society that marginalizes them based on both race and sexuality. Parts of the documentary are relatively standard documentary format, as Riggs talks about his life as a black gay man growing up in the South, and stock footage shows gay rights protests and examples of homophobia in the black community, like a homophobic Eddie Murphy standup routine. Much of the rest of the film is more impressionistic. Spoken-word monologues, dance, poetry, and scenes detailing how to do a proper snap and how to vogue all serve to flesh out a portrait of black gay life in the United States.Essex Hemphill, who is featured prominently in the film and who recites his own poetry, died of AIDS in 1995.
 Tongues Untied
fetched
2024-02-01T23:37:37Z
 Tongues Untied
parsed
2024-02-01T23:37:37Z
 Tongues Untied
processingComment
Dropped link to Documentary: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Tongues Untied
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Tongues Untied / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 Tongues Untied / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: Alluded to in a line where Riggs says "Anoint me in cocoa oil and cum, so I speak in tongues twisted so tight, they untangle my mind."
 Tongues Untied / int_18d15922
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_18d15922
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_18d15922
 Tongues Untied / int_466ccbb4
type
Gayngst
 Tongues Untied / int_466ccbb4
comment
Gayngst: Discussed Trope, as much of the film examines homophobia both within society as a whole and the black community in particular, and the psychological toll it takes on black gay men. The film points out how black gay men who want nothing more than to exist must fear for their safety on the streets, and how homophobia and prejudice causes psychic pain in the black gay community. ("Anger invented becomes pain unspoken.")
 Tongues Untied / int_466ccbb4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_466ccbb4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_466ccbb4
 Tongues Untied / int_4856ac40
type
Stock Footage
 Tongues Untied / int_4856ac40
comment
Stock Footage: One of the more conventional documentary tropes used in this film. There are stock footage clips of civil rights marches, of gay rights marches, and of homophobia in the black community as shown by examples such as an Eddie Murphy standup routine.
 Tongues Untied / int_4856ac40
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_4856ac40
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_4856ac40
 Tongues Untied / int_6849cc47
type
Where da White Women At?
 Tongues Untied / int_6849cc47
comment
Where da White Women At?: A gender-flipped, gay version. Riggs talks of going to the gay Mecca of San Francisco, and how he overlooked his feelings about the invisibility of the black gay community, simply enjoying sleeping with white men. ("I was immersed in vanilla.")
 Tongues Untied / int_6849cc47
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_6849cc47
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_6849cc47
 Tongues Untied / int_6cb9eee2
type
Talking Heads
 Tongues Untied / int_6cb9eee2
comment
Talking Heads: Mostly Riggs and Hemphill facing the camera. Sometimes they are reciting poetry or dramatic monologues. Sometimes it's more conventional speech, like when Riggs talks about growing up as a boy in Georgia, and one of his first gay experiences, kissing another boy.
 Tongues Untied / int_6cb9eee2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_6cb9eee2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_6cb9eee2
 Tongues Untied / int_b5049d76
type
Added Alliterative Appeal
 Tongues Untied / int_b5049d76
comment
Added Alliterative Appeal: Reginald Jackson, one of the poets included in the film, recites a poem of his about "loves never had, acts unacted." One line has him speaking of "perversion polited pubescently." The lesson on how to do a proper snap describes the technique as "precision, pacing, placement, poise."
 Tongues Untied / int_b5049d76
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_b5049d76
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_b5049d76
 Tongues Untied / int_cb9afcd
type
The Ken Burns Effect
 Tongues Untied / int_cb9afcd
comment
The Ken Burns Effect: Used throughout with still pictures, like pans and zooms onto victims of AIDS, or of stills of racist gay pornography.
 Tongues Untied / int_cb9afcd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_cb9afcd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_cb9afcd
 Tongues Untied / int_d13e0db3
type
Heartbeat Soundtrack
 Tongues Untied / int_d13e0db3
comment
Heartbeat Soundtrack: A sex scene towards the end is accompanied both by erotic poetry, and the sound of a beating heart on the soundtrack. Lampshaded when Riggs says "Still I listen to the beat of my heart."
 Tongues Untied / int_d13e0db3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_d13e0db3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_d13e0db3
 Tongues Untied / int_name
type
ItemName
 Tongues Untied / int_name
comment
 Tongues Untied / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Tongues Untied / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Tongues Untied / int_name
 Tongues Untied / int_name
itemName
Tongues Untied

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
African-American Media / int_3cd67982
 Tongues Untied
hasFeature
Where da White Women At? / int_3cd67982