Pearline's Lesson in Body Freedom

In the movie Sinners, Pearline’s performance is one of my favorite scenes. Her moves are animalistic, from the foot stomping, the back-arching hip movements, the crawling on the floor, and the howls of her voice are such lessons in pleasure and body freedom. That was the whole point of the juke joint, though, right? A night to let loose and get out all the pent-up energy after a long week at work.

Even the texture of her dress deserves recognition. The feeling of loose but fitted silk on the skin is a sensory pleasure in and of itself - lightweight, but present, nonetheless. One would imagine that if the costumes in the film were time correct, the fabric would be made of natural fibers that breathe with the body and don’t put your sweat stains out on front street. This was also pleasure-inducing, because nothing is more freeing than the ability to sweat and do the absolute most in the southern heat, AND still end the night looking good.

We see this as the movie progresses - her skin is giving immaculate glazed donut vibes, but the dress? Still intact and sitting right as it hangs on her body.

The character Pearline just gives rich Aunty vibes. Worldly, yet respectable and absolutely THAT girl. One who has her home together, puts her nieces on game, and still makes time for her pleasure (in this case, including sexual pleasure).

Just to get it out of the way - no one is putting her stepping outside her marriage on a pedestal because we also recognize that we know nothing about her arrangement with said husband, and that marriage as an institution in Western society, prior to the generally recent inclusion of romantic love, is nuanced.

Let’s be real, women couldn’t open bank accounts or take out lines of credit or own homes before the 70’s. So when we leave space for the couples who didn’t marry because they were hopelessly in love, and women who didn’t center their life around being attached to a man and birthing babies, Pearline gives us a tiny glimpse into how women in the 1930’s might have moved through their freedom.

So now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we must remember what also made Pearline a “sinner” outside of her entanglement with Sammie.

Performing on stage with all that hootin’ and hollerin’ and dancing was a sin. Dance and sacred, sensual movement were not only considered a sin, but illegal in some places (read this article here for a quick summary of our history with the law and dance). And even now, when we reflect on the church mother’s opinions about twerking and all that jirating -

"Women with no clothes on gyrating all over on this land. Do you see this shack…. Young black women, you are more than your thighs and your hips. You are beautiful, strong, powerful. I want more from you." - Madea's Family Reunion (2006)

let's us know how far we've strayed from the plot when we consider how dance, specifically isolation in the hips, was a rite of passage to sacred medicine from our ancestors. I've taken West African dance classes, I've celebrated joyously with Nigerian family while watching their cultural dances, and I've danced in front of the drums at bembes all up and down the diaspora. The ability to allow Spirit to take over us to literally shake energy up out of our bodies so it doesn't stay stagnant to go on and create fibroids, endometriosis, PCOS, and other womb diseases IS ANCESTRAL.

Taking it a step further, it’s natural. We see how, after a deer escapes being hunted, they stop and shake uncontrollably, releasing all the cortisol and adrenaline in their body. We know that animals killed in horrific ways have high amounts of those hormones in their bodies and taste horrible - so imagine what happens when they don’t shake out our traumatic experiences. It’s the same for us as humans. Ain’t no mandatory movement no more, especially in our nonexistent grief rituals, so no wonder sickness is running rampant in this country. All that trapped grief, anger, and stored-up energy is getting stuck in our bodies and making us sick.

When we release that energy, it creates room for our muscles to not only have space to heal quicker, but it also strengthens our ability to invite in more harmonious and pleasurable experiences. We see the effects of how puritan ways created pleasure-deprived adults who have nothing to do but make shitty legislation that plans to put poor, Black and Brown people back into chattel slavery. Booty holes just tight and angry with spirits disconnected from their body.

But this disconnection from sacred dance is a bigger conversation around movement in general. For example, Michelle Obama and her program Let’s Move (2010) which included a focus on increasing physical activity. This was such an important initiative that empowered kids and families to move and play to combat the obesity problem in this country. We watch movies like Wall-E and really start to wonder if our glamorization of the 40 to 60 hour work week at a desk job, push for virtual realities and other device-heavy activities, as well as the attack on walkable cities and third spaces, is lowkey our government conspiring against our ability to connect with our bodies for (insert whatever reason you'd like).

I’ve seen little ones who grew overnight and didn’t have the coordination with their now long legs, long arms, and longer torso. Just flopping around, bumping into walls and shit. I’ve seen grown men do the absolute most in the gym for upper body strength while walking, just stiff with zero range of motion. I’ve seen seniors, cognizant as ever in their right mind, need help to use the bathroom because they didn’t have the ab strength to hinge at the hip and support their efforts to get up. I hope you see the chain reaction that perverting movement causes.

Intentional movement opens the door to embodiment, and embodiment gives us awareness, knowledge, and control of sensations in our bodies that allow us to make better-informed decisions. A society disconnected from its body is a trap within the mind that eventually leads to lives not worth living, which is why I believe that any theology that doesn’t include the body or talks down on its natural reactions instead of teaching individuals how to navigate these reactions - is a setup.

We came to earth to be humannnnn!

Humans have bodies, and these bodies are wired to work in the very specific ways in which they do. Life should be about understanding these bodies and creating systems that allow us to always get back into harmony with them, no matter life’s circumstances, so that we as a society can focus on enjoyment and overall progression - not pain management for easily preventable chronic illnesses as Big Pharma would like.

Perverting movement and pleasure and turning them into one-way tickets to hell was a setup. A free body that can moan, groan, dance, and contort the heaviness of Jim Crow, enslavement, and capitalism up out of it is a path to freedom.

And that’s exactly what I saw in Pearline’s performance - pure and unadulterated freedom in a Black woman.

More of that, please.