i was watching a documentary on storme delarverie, a male impersonator and performer during the 1950’s and 60’s. grace jones was also brought up, along with the overall struggle of playing with gender roles, especially in the african american community. grace jones has stood out to me for a while now when considering the media’s portrayal of black women and how this has affected the general public’s perception of us.
slave to the rhythm. a view to kill. nightclubbing. grace’s resume consists of works that, for the most part, scared her audience. but she was a star, and that couldn’t be disputed. the woman who appeared ‘mannish’ in photo and film truly glowed outside of hollywood. even while watching interviews with grace jones, her true beauty shines through in a bubbling character and bright smile. but why didn’t we get to see that on the silver screen? this issue was touched upon in america’s next top model, where cycle 2 contestant xiomara was not happy with her assignment to replicate grace jones. her dark complexion is another factor to consider, i.e. the overall disapproval 0f dark skin amongst whites and blacks (blacks especially) when it comes to beauty.
above all, i honestly don’t think grace jones was ever portrayed as human. she was given an alpha-female, dark chocolate ‘otherness’ role to the public, and her entire marketing campaign was another opportunity to separate the black woman from society. she [the general black woman] is associated with an intangible mystique that separates her from any other woman, while similarly confirming the problematic dialectic between black women counterparts. part scary, part unknown. undeniably conflicted.
i hope we can one day overcome the burden of conforming and reestablishing the past, continuously. i hope our strength and beauty can be recognized not only by others, but more importantly by every one of us.
The World of Grace Jones. theworldofgracejones.com
