Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
April 24–May 1, 1997
movie shorts
Watermelon Woman
Written and directed by Cheryl Dunye
A First Run Features Release
Cheryl Dunye.
recommended
When I reviewed Watermelon Woman for its Philly premiere during last year's Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, I had no idea that the review would be just the excuse conservative politicians like Sen. Jesse Helms and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) needed to launch a second attack on the National Endowment for the Arts, which partially funded Cheryl Dunye's film.
Taken out of context and cited everywhere from the Tampa Tribune to the Dallas Morning News to the Washington Post, the line "the hottest dyke sex scene ever recorded on celluloid" made Dunye's movie seem like — in the words of New York Times Op-Ed columnist Frank Rich — "lesbian porn," and Dunye herself a second Robert Mapplethorpe. City Paper didn't escape the heat, either: Rich asks, smirkingly, "What paper is the congressman reading?" and the Washington Times concludes that the review was "obviously not printed in a family newspaper."
That journalists and politicians alike didn't read the review in full is clear. What is even more clear is their lack of familiarity with lesbian cinema: anyone who knows dyke flicks and who has seen Watermelon Woman will appreciate that the infamous line was meant, to a certain extent, ironically: the celebrated scene, while erotic, wouldn't merit a second thought if it were staged between a man and woman in any R-rated Hollywood feature; it is only the dearth of cinematic representations of lesbian sexuality (and black lesbian and interracial sexuality in particular) that makes this scene so "hot" — and, yes, worthy of NEA and other public support.
The Original Review (City Paper, May 3, 1996)
This much-awaited film by local indie filmmaker Cheryl Dunye is everything an independent filmmaker's first feature should be: fast and loose, fun, self-indulgent, breathless, and beautiful. In short, it is a reflection of Dunye herself. This isnot surprising given this mockumentary's self-referentiality: writer/director Dunye stars as an African-American Philly-based lesbian filmmaker who becomes obsessed with an elusive 1930s film actress whose life and loves mirror her own. Guin Turner(Go Fish) is luminescent as Dunye's love interest (don't miss the hottest dyke sex scene ever recorded on celluloid), and irrepressible newcomer Valarie Walker steals every scene she's in. Chock full of cameos and familiar locales (look for Camille Paglia, Toshi Reagon, Sarah Schulman, TLA Video, the Free Library and the vegetable truck on Germantown's Chelten Avenue), the film is a long-overdue ode to Philadelphia's funkiness.
