Watermelon Woman - Journal Entry 30 Xiongyue Yu

Watermelon Woman - Cheryl Dunye

 

Watermelon Woman is a classic gay-themed film that is a romantic comedy, with the film's director Cheryl Dunye herself playing the lead role in her own film, the first to be directed by a black lesbian who was open about her sexuality. Such an identity makes the film stand as a challenge to recreate history from a queer perspective and use a unique storytelling style, all of which make this a milestone in queer cinema in American history. watermelon woman is a highly textured film that challenges the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction. dunye says many of the characters she plays in the film are autobiographical. But Watermelon Woman's historical references are fictional: "Watermelon Woman was created because there was a real lack of any information about lesbianism and the history of film for African-American women. The name Watermelon Woman may also allude to the watermelon, which often symbolizes life and love, abundance and fertility, a hidden allegory in line with femininity. In making this documentary form film, which required crossing three barriers of race, sexual orientation and gender simultaneously, this bold film exploring the intersection of race, class and sexuality became a timeless statement because of its clever and poignant twist on history, and even today it can still be called a miracle in film and television.