Starz has
something amazing on its hands with P-Valley. The series, now in
its second season, revolves around the Chucalissa, Mississippi-based The Pynk
strip club and those who frequent it. With scenes that I would venture to say
lean in the direction of a Zane novel or the writing of Sister Souljah, creator
Katori Hall and her team spin up a world filled with society's underdogs who
have climbed their way to the top of life's figurative pole through their own
tenacity. They are characters that you fall in love with — some that you love
to hate — and root for. And, they are characters that often present as
disruptions to popular narratives.
Uncle Clifford
is certainly a leader, not only of the series but in the work of disruption. In
the hands of Hall and others like co-executive producer Patrik-Ian Polk, the
gender irreverant, bearded and shellacked, full-figured nonbinary wonder makes
her own rules. Those are given out as maxims — complete with their own
personalized numbers — in the confines of The Pynk, but outside, they evidence
themselves in how Clifford shows up in the world.
The show's
latest episode, titled "Jackson," digs into this. Clifford (Nico
Annan) is taking care of his grandmother who has come down with the virus at
the center of the ongoing pandemic and Lil Murda (J. Alphonse Nicholson) is
staying with them after watching the trauma of Big Teak die by suicide right in
front of him. Being in the same house forces Murda and Clifford to deal with
their unresolved feelings — the pair had been seeing one another until Murda,
who is a rapper, decided that his career was more important than possibly being
ostracized for being gay.
Almost halfway
through the episode, Murda finds Clifford in her room trying to find him
something to wear. After passing over pieces like a shirt that "belong to
the trade of Christmas past," Murda finds an old Gucci bag.
"That's
my first pocketbook," Clifford says, "I had that since I was
three." Clifford went on, explaining that her mother had defended her from
anyone's objections.
"So you
always been like ... like this?" Murda asks. Clearly, the question was
aimed at her not conforming to typical gender presentation expectations.
"Nigga
what you mean?" Clifford responds.
"Like
this," Murda continues. "I mean I don't mean no offense but, what are
you?"
"I'm
Uncle Clifford," Clifford says. It is a simple answer, but powerful
enough. It's an idea we have certainly heard before: I am what I am, I am my
own creation. I exist, therefore I am and that needs no further explination. In
fact, for me it felt parallel to Kevin asking "Who is you, Chiron?"
in Moonlight. But Clifford continues: "What are
you?"
"Whatever
the world gon' let me be," Murda explains.
It is an
intriguing admission, and an honest one. For many, what we are and how we
present is a negotiation with the world. It is about finding out not only who
you are inside, but when that proves incongruent with what society will allow,
what is worth preserving. How we show up often becomes a game of choosing our
battles out of safety or acceptance. And while some are prepared to tussle with
the expectations of gender performance and what it means to be assigned male at
birth, many find that weight to be crushing, opting for the paths of least
resistance.
"You ask
me what I am without even realizing all that come along with that answer,"
Clifford explains later. "Don't get me wrong: I love me some me but people
don't understand how lonely it can be to shine so bright."
These are the
moments in which P-Valley sings. In this world of fantastical
pink and purple-colored drama, the characters are still people simply
navigating what it means to be human in what we've all come to know as a
bitterly cold and complex world.
Toward the end
of the episode, the show continues these complexities. Gay and queer characters
are often treated to very specific types of sex scenes. Over the last few years
we've seen that slowly widen and P-Valley continues adding to
that work. In a series set in a strip club, sex scenes seem a given and Uncle
Clifford has been no exception to them.
In season 2
episode seven, as the show has done before, P-Valley puts a
wrinkle in the expectations. In almost any context a full figured, femme
character sporting three inch nails would be presumed a bottom. But Uncle
Clifford? A non-conformist to the core, fills Murda up just as requested. Nails
still attached, wigs and lashes likely not far off. And that's real.
Though sex is
imagined popularly on a binary, this is queer sex as it happens. There is no
rule book, no one way have sex. In real life femme tops do exist. Those who are
nonbinary do not abandon the act of sex by choosing to live out their gender.
And it's time that all of that be deserving of as much camera time as
anything else.
SOURCE: OUT DOT COM
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