In watching RuPaul's Drag U 2 episode 8, "A Family That Drags Together", one is fully immersed into the culture of "dragging", in which men dress and act as women. With an open-mind, even one who has never experienced dragging can recognize why drag queens are known as "artists". These artists take the expectations of women, as seen in caricature women, and exaggerate them to entertain and to express themselves. The thing to understand is that drag queens are men that "drag", as can be seen in RuPaul, the host of the show.
He acts as his male-self when talking to the contestants, but RuPaul can be seen dragging in the opening sequence. However, to the general population, the crossing of gender expectations is discomforting and hard to accept. As Sontag's concept of camp states, "It is the love of the exaggerated, the "off", of things-being-what-they-are not". And so to help their family members better understand the art of dragging, the drag queens of the show placed their family members in their own high heeled pumps.
In "being what they are not", the episode has men ironically teaching women how to be women. Starting by focusing on the "hourglass shape" that is prized in society, the drag queens altered the look of their family members in creative ways using commons closet items and extensive use of make-up. Noticeably, ringing with Sontag's quote "To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up", the drag queen men act as women more so than their female family members. In the end, the female family members learned much about their brothers' and son's art and how to exaggerate the example of a strong woman. Tears were shed, and loose ends were closed up; completing the title of the episode, "a family that drags together" stays together.
you brought up the fact that the crossing of gender expectations is discomforting and hard to accept and i agree with that statement 100%. To be honest while watching this episode i had some moments where i thought to myself what the hell is going on here but i think that has a lot to do with how i was brought up and how i am socialized to believe things and what i believe is correct or an acceptable way to act within society. Now i know that comment is going to flare up some heave responses so let me be the first to say its not close mindedness as much as it is an inability to "get into their pumps"
ReplyDeleteWhile I can respect that the crossing of gender roles can definitely be disconcerting to a select group of individuals, it's a pretty audacious claim to state that it is discomforting "to the general population". I think it's important to note that even in light of such serious social complexities, the spirit of Camp advocates "playfulness" or at least "a seriousness that fails". Drag U may blur the lines of gender expectations but by no means does that cause everyone to feel uncomfortable. The "too much" factor is really to highlight "a more complex relation to the serious" and I'd say that the show, in many ways like Camp, takes on a worthy undertaking.
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