Sounds of an Experience
Tongues United is a publicly funded documentary that explores the challenges of life as a gay, black man in the 1980s. Marlon Riggs, director of the documentary, uses everything from performance to poetry to found footage, and many other elements of documentary film together to form a cohesive narrative exploring gay, black American life. Riggs was the first to produce a documentary of this kind, fusing many different elements of traditional documentary film. Additionally, Tongues United is notable for being the first televised look at gay, black, American life on public television. In fact, it was met with much criticism when it was first aired on PBS due to the public funding used to create what was then considered a controversial subject matter. I think that this film is captivating because it incorporates beautiful art, but it keeps it grounded in reality. Additionally, Riggs portrays the emotional experiences that he and others have had without falling into an overly emotional narrative. I was incredibly moved watching this film. One of the technical elements that I was enraptured by was the sound. Throughout the entire piece sound was used to evoke very specific emotions. The heart beat motif is an example of this. However, the juxtaposition of the barbershop quartet and the march footage was by far the best of the sound design in the film.