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Thread: Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens

  1. #1
    The Southern Circuit of Independent Filmmakers brought the documentary, "Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens" to the ETSU campus Monday, April 25th. The film's director is Gabrille Burton. The producer, her sister Ursula Burton, is probably best known for recurring roles on The Office and Grey's Anatomy. April marked the first showings of KQIB, a film more than five years in the making.

    The movie is quite an achievement. It features interviews and performance shots of a large number of drag kings and queens who perform in Columbus, Ohio, which (surprisingly) has a burgeoning drag scene. The editing prevents any semblance of boredom, and questions are posed and explored in a very smooth, interconnected fashion via interviews with at least eight different individuals and their significant others.

    Although clearly the film is designed to provide a positive and enlightening look at the gender continuum, I had issues with one chronology decision in the editing process. We are brought into the lives of the various performers early on from a very sympathetic perspective, while some of the details that a "civilian" audience would find cringe-worthy are saved for later in the film after sympathies and perspectives have been established. Thus, our knowledge of castration or what some might consider other acts of self-mutilation are held off until battle lines are drawn. I thought this was too manipulative. The emotional tone of the film may have been significantly different had these details been revealed earlier, and I feel the audience was owed that information earlier. I have a problem when a red alert blares partway through a documentary that announces I have been manipulated to that point.

    The interviews are certainly revealing and tremendously well done, and insights gained are worth the watching.
    Last edited by redietz; 04-26-2016 at 05:04 PM.

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