Pariah and a new Coming-of-Age Tale

By exploring individual and public memory in a search identity, Pariah responds to both Eastern Illinois University’s 2013 WHAM theme, “Women and Public Memory” and its keynote address highlighting the life and work of Margaret Sanger and Helen Keller.  Pariah,as a coming-of-age film, follows Alike (pronounced “ah-lee-kay”), a 17-year-old African American lesbian from Brooklyn, N.Y., as she learns to embrace her identity.

Many critics praise writer and director Dee Rees’s debut feature, Pariah. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone calls it “vibrantly alive.” Stephen Holden of The New York Times describes it as “stirring.” And Betsy Sharkey of The Los Angeles Times defines it as “a stinging, street-smart story.”

In an interview with GLAAD, Rees explained why it was so important to tell this story on-screen: Growing up, I rarely saw my image reflected on screen.  The Color Purple and Women of Brewster Place are the few films I was allowed to watch when I was younger that touched on sexuality.  I made Pariah to portray images on screen that we hadn’t seen before, and to bring to light the experiences of gay youth of color because those stories hadn't been fully told.  The film experience is powerful because by taking you into the world of Pariah for ninety minutes, I can prove to you that we all are more alike than different.  We all have dealt with the coming of age process and figuring out how to be ourselves.

According to Rees, the film also tackles gender, sexuality, religion, and class because ”Life and relationships are layered and nuanced for everyone – regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion or class.  No one is a supporting character in their own life, so it was important to infuse the nuance and layers of gender, sexuality, religion and class into this story because that makes it a truly authentic depiction of these characters' lives and shatters stereotypes.”

Although Pariahdoes not explicitly address environmental themes, its approach to the coming-of-age story expands a poplar genre to provide an authentic portrait of a young woman’s journey toward identity construction and acceptance.