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.
Tropes:
- 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."
- Documentary: An unconventional, impressionistic documentary of the lives of black gay men in America.
- 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.")
- 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."
- The Ken Burns Effect: Used throughout with still pictures, like pans and zooms onto victims of AIDS, or of stills of racist gay pornography.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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."
- 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.")
