Written, produced and directed by Jennifer Holness, Subjects of Desire is a thought-provoking documentary that focuses on Black women and the power beauty holds.
The film highlights Black woman unapologetically speaking their truths and sharing their lived experiences through an unfiltered lens. Holness shows that, despite how society continues to stereotype Black women, they continue to be resilient. As her first feature documentary, Holness purposely chose to focus on the power beauty holds and how conventional American beauty standards have and continue to affect Black women.
“I wanted to have unfiltered conversations,” said Holness. “We as black women have these conversations amongst ourselves and I wanted to make a film that challenged the system and make it around Black women and their beauty.”
The three main stereotypes of Black women focused in the film were — the motherly and obedient Mammy, the hyper-sexual Jezebel, and the Saphire who is also known as the angry Black woman.
The film also challenges conventional beauty standards and partially takes place during the 50th anniversary of the Miss Black America pageant, which started as a political protest. Miss Black America Pageant was created to counter racist ideologies ignited by the Miss Black America pageant, such as Black women not being deemed worthy of celebration.
Holness explores North American beauty standards and how harmful that has been towards Black women.
The meaning behind the title is that “Black women have been objectified in a debased way. We are subjects of our own story,” said Holness. “This isn’t a story of black drama, but the joy and the beauty of Being a black woman, and embracing who we are.”
“The ideal woman is one where I am in service. I am working hard but often it’s for others,” said Holness. “Black women are constantly scrutinized and placed in roles that are in service of other people.”
Empowering thousands of Black women watching, Holness hopes the conversation to arise from watching the film is for Black women to ask themselves a question before doing anything – “ask yourself, am I doing this because it is something I want to do or is it something I am ‘expected’ to do as a Black woman?”
Born in Jamaica, Holness came to Canada when she was six years old with her mother and has always loved writing and telling great stories. Growing up she rarely saw herself being represented in the media she consumed. “I have always been shocked by how little black stories have been focused on,” said Holness.
“What I really loved was being creative and being in the creative industry,” she said. When she graduated she created a production company without any previous experience.
Along with her partner Sudz Sutherland, Holness co-founded Hungry Eyes Media to entertain and inspire viewers through authentic, thought-provoking, creative stories.
Inspired by her three daughters and her own lived experience, she decided to deconstruct what we understand about race and the power beauty has on our society. Daeja Sutherland – first year at The New School, and Rayne Sutherland – a second year at Western University, are two of her daughters who were cast members.
In creating the film, Holness realized that despite the increase in representation of Black women, that did not mean her daughters were not struggling and being affected by traditional beauty standards. This created open dialogues and a safe space for her girls to share some of their experiences with her.
“There are black women you can look up to now and I thought that meant my girls… were protected,” she said. Creating the film opened her eyes to the fact that they were not comfortable in their skin more so than she was growing up.
“I never had the conversation until I made this film. Having that conversation has helped them immeasurably. They are so much more comfortable in their skin,” she said, they understand the history and where it comes from and also that they are not crazy and all of that has helped.
The first thing we learn when watching the film is that studies show that the most educated group in America are Black Women, leading to the question of whether beauty should matter or not. Subjects of Desire explores the complexity of black hair and how societal beauty standards matter because it holds great power, drive different conversations and shape people’s lived experiences.
“The significance of this film is that it is putting a spotlight on dangerous narratives that have been used to control and demean black women to take away our power,” said Holness. The film shows us that despite all this, Black women are still going about their lives and being incredible. It’s showing that Black women are so resilient and brilliant. The documentary exposes a deeper racist system and narratives that have been there all along while showing that Black women are powerful.
Despite everything Black women have been forced to endure, Holness showcased a film where some of these women can also share their resilience. It’s a film that talks about beauty and power, but it also sends an empowering message to other Black women that they are beautiful and despite all the barriers you can still achieve your goals.
The film shows how Black girls and women have felt the need to adapt to Eurocentric features, due to societal norms, which they have been conditioned to see as the standard of beauty.
Subjects of Desire is a film everyone needs to watch at least once. It compels everyone watching, to think about beauty standards and how this powerful industry has created a society for Black women to see themselves as less than beautiful. It also encourages healthy conversations to emerge on the portrayals of Black women in media.
“Despite what has been done to us and what continues to be shown out there we are triumphant, it’s about celebrating Black women’s success,” said Holness.
Holness shared a message to everyone who aspires to get into the film industry, she says “If you want something figure out how to do it!” That is the mentality that led Holness to find her creative voice. She decided to pursue what she loved to do, which brought her to where she is today.
Holness has worked as a documentary filmmaker for nearly 20 years. Her passion for Black Canadian History led her to produce her first History Channel Serie called BLK: An Origin Story.
Watch Subjects of Desire now on TVO.org, YouTube and TVO streaming channels.
Follow @subjectsofdesiredoc on Instagram and check subjectsofdesire.com to see what other films they release and also how you can continue to have the conversation of beauty standards and what that is like for Black women in your community and schools.
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