Pariah - Dee Rees

The woman I have chosen to write about is an up and coming African-American film director and screenwriter, Diandra (Dee) Rees. Some of her works include Eventual Salvation, a documentary following the life of an 80 year old African American immigrant, who also happens to be Miss Rees’ grandmother, who returns to Liberia many years after the devastation it left from the Liberian Civil War. She also directed and wrote a short film entitled Colonial Gods, about the friendship between two men from different cultures during a time of gentrification. Although new to this industry she has been making a very big name for herself with her projects, already working with big time Hollywood directors such as Spike Lee, who was the executive producer on her first big feature film Pariah.

Pariah is a coming of age story about a 17 year old girl named Alike, who grows up in Brooklyn with her parents and younger sister, and follows her along a path of self discovery as she struggles with her sexuality and identity as a lesbian. She not only has tough challenges truly accepting who she is but has even tougher challenges opening up to people around her, especially her parents, about coming out. Pariah was originally written as feature film, for her NYU graduation requirement, but started out as a short film. “I decided to take the first act of the feature and change some stuff around and shoot it as a short film. It was great because it really allowed us to workshop the friendship, with Laura and Alike, and really set the groundwork for establishing the tone and feel of the film, but it was always intended to be a feature. Doing the short was great because it allowed us to get attention and start getting buzz on the festival circuit. It actually ended up being a nice selling tool, when we were looking for investors to be a part of the film.” (Collider)

It also reflects on Rees’ own life and her personal struggles of self-identity as a lesbian who came out of the closet at the age of 27. All those years growing up and never having an outlet where she could truly feel at ease with was hard for her but she found it in this movie. She brought it to life to create that outlet of being open about your identity and for her that was the most important part about this film. “That was something that I struggled with. Having to stake out your identity and have people question whether or not you’re being yourself was a tension that I could relate to. I just wanted to pour all of that into the film … At the end of the day, the film is about identity. It’s about how to be yourself. Gay, straight, black, white, or whatever your background, you’re going to be able to connect with somebody on the screen and see yourself, and hopefully look at yourself or the world differently. As I was writing, I didn’t worry about universality. I knew that the more specific I was the more true it would ring and the more people from all different backgrounds could relate to it.” (Collider)

She was the perfect example of someone who followed the auteur theory. “Although social contexts shape film processes, it was the director who authored a film.” (Feminism and Film 96)

This movie received overall, positive reviews from critics and was nominated for seven NAACP Image Awards, including one for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture as well as one for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture. And most recently won the GLAAD Outstanding Film Award, on March 24’ 2012. In the Los Angeles Times, reviewer Betsy Sharkey quoted that Pariah “is a stinging street-smart story of an African American teen's struggle to come of age and come out. Writer-director Dee Rees has a distinctive style and strong voice.” (Collider)

Post #5 - Work Cites

Author/Auteur: Feminist Literary Theory and Feminist Film.
Focus Features - Pariah. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://www.focusfeatures.com/pariah/>.
Radish, Christina. "Writer/Director Dee Rees Talks PARIAH, BOLO, LARGE PRINT, and HBO TV Series with Viola Davis." Dee Rees PARIAH Interview. Web. 02 May 2012. <http://collider.com/dee-rees-pariah-bolo-large-print-interview/134181/>.