'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom': A parallel between the Mother of Blues' relationship with Dussie in film and play
Viola Davis plays the role of Ma Rainey in the Netflix film 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'. She plays a character inspired by the real-life blues singer Ma 'Gertrude' Rainey who was one of the few openly queer women of her time and she made it known through her stunning lyrics. In the film, we see that Dussie, one of Ma's backup dancers becomes a point of contention between Ma and Levee as she enjoys both of their attention and affection.
For instance, speaking of this love triangle in the film and working with Chadwick Boseman in his last performing role, the actor who plays Dussie - Taylour Paige said, "He (Boseman) was just extremely willing. We rehearsed a lot. We had the luxury, which is so rare to rehearse three weeks in advance before we started shooting. By the time we shot [in summer 2019], which was more towards the end of the film, and it was just a whole day devoted to Dussie and Levee, I felt like we were comfortable. He would check in with me to make sure I was comfortable. I was just like, you know, just do what Levee does."
She then added, "He had good ideas about it. We tried different ways of, you know, showing two people who just can not keep their hands off one another, knowing that this is so foul, because my lover is upstairs and she's the leader of your band, but like, I'm so attracted to you. You're so attracted to me, and we both want possibility and escape. We want to escape out of our situations. Dussie sees Levee, and Levee sees her." Dussie Mae is a character in August Wilson's play who is instrumental in making the play a paradox, especially in terms of how while trying to subvert the heterosexual status quo through Ma Rainey, it upholds the same through Dussie Mae. There is this lead blues singer who is openly queer, and then there is her lover who can not seem to keep her hands off the band's trumpet player Levee. In the play, Dussie even tells Levee that she will be his woman when and if he gets his own band. Of course, we know that is not how things really ended, but many believed that this is an indication of how the play propagates the belief that a relationship with a man is more stable than that with a woman. Even if the said woman has ensured that you have financial stability.
Unlike Ma Rainey, neither are Levee or Dussie based on real-life characters. They are both characters in August Wilson's play 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', and the former is based on many real-life musicians who had worked with Ma Rainey and the latter is a figment of Wilson's imagination. Ma Rainey's lyrics in 1920 indicated that she was bisexual and that is what the playwright seems to have used to propel his plot. In the play, Dussie in many ways is also used by Ma as a symbol of her status. She believes that she was able to meet Dussie Mae the way she did because of her success as a musician and not her personality and that drives an ever-present rift in their relationship. Ma keeps everyone at an arm's distance and that includes Dussie Mae. One of the scenes that portray this beautifully is when Ma is driven around the city by her nephew Sylvester and her girlfriend Dussie Mae. Ma travels alone in the back seat, with both Dussie Mae and Sylvester in the front, this scene is also a nod to the speculation that Sylvester was Ma's lover too as indicated in the play by the many times that the two of them snap at each other.
It is a lonely world, to operate one's own band with an all-Black male orchestra in a world that is racist and transphobic. Yet she manages to keep it all together because the companion that she chooses to keep close to her is her music. Not humans, but music is what keeps Ma going and that is why 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' is about keeping one's music personal. The more personal it is to you, the more chords it will strike right with the audience so when Ma refuses to give up on her closing track, we understand why.
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' can be streamed on Netflix from December 18.