'Pose' season 2 shows us the moments of glory that Madonna brought to the ballroom and those who were left behind
From the very first whiff about ‘Pose,’ it was abundantly clear that the FX show is going to defy all stereotypes and tropes and it has followed through with that promise to date. While season 1 was all about establishing the ballroom culture and the queer people who found their chosen families within those ballrooms, season 2 takes us to 1990, wherein Madonna has released ‘Vogue’ and these underground arts and artistes were suddenly exposed to the outside world.
While ‘Vogue’ obviously put Voguing on the map, the media conveniently forgot about the drag queens and Trans people of color that gave birth to it. ‘Pose’ is the answer to the world’s memory loss about what actually happened in ‘80s New York. However, there are some skeptics, who wonder if the Ryan Murphy show will stick to the narrative that Madonna saved ‘Vogue’ from remaining in oblivion or will it also speak to those who believed that Madonna did not have any right to put the underground art form in the mainstream for the world to see.
“Pose will do what Pose does best: it will show us both the moments of glory that Madonna brought to the ballroom, as well as show us who were left behind when the records stopped spinning,’ ‘Pose’ star Angelica Ross tells MEA World Wide (MEAWW), adding, “My personal is opinion is, when we know better, we do better. Pose has brought the community into every aspect of the show’s creation. There is more work to be done and there is more of the Trans spectrum that we can cover, especially with the announcement of a third season.”
On her own memories and opinions of the ‘80s as someone who grew up during that period, she says, “Everyone knew of the legends that came out of the ballroom scene in NYC. Even if you weren’t familiar with the culture, you at least knew names because they traveled… We heard the legends about how they slayed on the ballroom floor, and we also got word about their untimely deaths. My community shared the stories of Venus Extravaganza, Octavia St. Laurent, and Pepper LaBeija.”
What ‘Pose’ does is offer a proper homage to the people and period. “Outside of our community, our stories have not historically been reported, and when they are, it is not with accuracy. So, the stories we see on Pose didn’t change the way I look at our history, they became a mirror,” she says.
Ross portrays Candy Ferocity in ‘Pose,’ which airs every Tuesday on FX.
