The beauty of the Criterion Collection is the company’s commitment to keeping important films from sliding away. And while maybe it’s a bit of a course correction, the time is ripe for The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs. Riggs (1957-1994) used his documentaries to shine a light on what it means to be both Black and gay in the United States. Employing a mélange of documentary, poetry and performance art, Riggs tackled racism and homophobia in the collection’s seven films, including his Emmy-winning piece on Black stereotypes in popular culture, Ethnic Notions (1986).
Though we have made some minor strides in our country since the ‘80s and ‘90s, the films in this set are still vivacious, searching and challenging. Whether he is tackling toxic masculinity or giving a history of Black images on television, Riggs blurs the boundaries of documentary and art. Ranging from eight to 87 minutes, each short film brims with thoughtful nudges that still feel pertinent nearly 35 years later.
Perhaps the best-known film in the set, Tongues Untied (1989), is actually more renowned for the controversy surrounding its release than the film itself. Despite airing on PBS, some stations refused to run the short. The country was still cloaked under the shadow of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and right-wing pundits, most notoriously Pat Buchanan, seized upon the film, damning it for its “pornographic” content, especially since Riggs had received a grant from the NEA to fund it.
However, the film is far from pornographic. In fact, it is sex-positive and life-affirming, giving gay Black men something that presented them in an encouraging light. Riggs, writing in a New York Times op-ed claimed that conservatives targeted the film because it “affirms the lives and dignity of black gay men.” This boxed set feels like a weapon loaded with truth, a silver bullet that could undo generations of negative and false stereotyping that has perpetuated untruths and harmful myths designed to keep Black Americans out of power.
Riggs made many of these films fully aware that his time was limited. Educated at Harvard, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1978, Riggs realized he was gay right as the AIDS pandemic began to strike the queer community. In 1988, while in the hospital in Germany for kidney failure, Riggs learned that he had AIDS. Despite being ill, Riggs continued making films, including his final work, Black Is…Black Ain’t (1995) that serves both to question what it means to be Black in America and as his own final testament. Riggs would die from complications from AIDS in 1994, leaving a group of his collaborators to finish the movie.
Despite the tragic end to Riggs’ life, now is the perfect time to rediscover his films. Color Adjustment (1992) examines not only representations of Black Americans throughout the history of television, but also questions just how Black folks fit into the pervasively white narrative of the American Dream. By mining footage from shows ranging from “Amos ‘n’ Andy” to “the Cosby Show,” Riggs digs deep into the harmful ways Black Americans have been both portrayed outside and then devoured by the prevailing version of America peddled on prime time. But don’t just take it from Riggs. Featuring some of the most forward-thinking voices on race issues in America from bell hooks to Cornell West to Angela Davis, these films remain vital and provocative. With the Criterion Collection’s new set, they should take their place in the pantheon of important films made about modern America.
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