Victoria Film Festival Review: “Subjects of Desire” Celebrates Black Beauty
One of the most intriguing moments in director Jennifer Holness’s documentary Subjects of Desire is when Ryerson University professor Dr. Cheryl Thompson discusses Olympia, an oil painting by Édouard Manet. In this scene, Dr. Thompson explains that when art historians discussed Manet’s piece, which depicts a Black female servant tending to a nude white woman, they overlooked the Black woman in the background. Thompson’s comment is significant because it shows how society erases Black women. Unlike Manet, Holness puts Black women and their complexities in the foreground. Subjects of Desire does not set off any fireworks, but its thought-provoking approach to how society measures black women’s features and beauty is illuminating.
Subjects of Desire explores how Western civilization went from ridiculing Black Women’s physical features and aesthetics to celebrating it through the backdrop of the 2018 Miss Black America pageant. The documentary follows several contestants like New Mexico native Alexandra Germain, tech founder Ryann Richardson, and performer Seraiah Nichole as they prepare for their monumental event. Along with their interviews, Holness talks to prominent academics and entertainers such as University of Washington professor Dr. Carolyn West and singer/songwriter India Arie about Eurocentric beauty standards, racial stereotypes, and the media’s negative portrayal of Black women and girls. This collection of talking heads notes that although people’s views on black women have changed for the better, there is still much work to do.
What makes the film unique is that it gives Black women from all walks of life the space to tell their stories. Contestants like Germain compete in Miss Black America to prove that they are beautiful regardless of what others say. While for others, the competition is an opportunity to win a college scholarship. But despite their motives, these girls learn the value of self-confidence and sisterhood as they compete. Holness reflects this when she films the competitors taking a well-deserved break. As the women sit on the floor in a hotel conference room, they discuss what it felt like when their classmates bullied them for their darker skin tones. Not only does this scene show the impact of colorism in the Black community, but it also shows how black women can bond from their collective trauma.
The film also examines the ways in which some white women appropriate Black women’s culture and physical features for financial gain. Holness and her interviewees argue that the media awards the Kim Kardashians of the world for popularizing voluptuous butts and box braids. While at the same time, white employers punish Black women for rocking their natural tresses at the workplace. Holness reveals this nicely through her montage of news clips and online articles. With that said, Subjects of Desire suffers from giving Rachel Dolezal, who currently goes by Nkechi Amare Diallo, a platform. The director does ask Dolezal tough questions and gives the other Black women in the documentary the space to address their concerns about her. However, the act of featuring a con artist in a documentary made for and by Black women seems disingenuous. Why put a spotlight on a pretender when there is a documentary about her on Netflix?
Controversial white woman aside, Subjects of Desire is a solid documentary that analyzes society’s values of Black women. As Dr. Thompson says in the film, “Black has always been cool. Beauty is different. In the realm of beauty, Black is not cool.” Hopefully, the people in Holness’s first feature will convince others to see Black women as something to desire.
