EVERYTHING ELSE IS DRAG: LINGUISTIC DRAG AND GENDER PARODY ON RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE
2013; Volume: 3; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2378-3524
Autores Tópico(s)Media Studies and Communication
ResumoABSTRACT.The potential for parody, and the dialogue across the naturalized borders of gender identity, inherent in drag practice has been one of the keystones of academic research into both communities of drag queens and drag kings, and there are some indications that drag has begun to enter into wider cultural dialogues about sexuality, gender, and identity. RuPaul's Drag Race, an on-going reality television show, broadcast on the LOGO network, is one emergent feature of this wider engagement. The show takes the form of a competition amongst a group of drag queens, presided over by RuPaul, who are competing for a number of prizes and the title of America's Next Drag Superstar. Utilizing the episode Here Comes the Bride (2010) from the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race as a case study, this paper seeks to address the ways in which the drag queens featured on the show use ways of speaking and performing gender and identity to create hybrid spaces where naturalized boundaries between male and female bodies can be bridged. Using Judith Butler's conception of gender parody, Pierre Bourdieu's theories of habitus, and Jacques Derrida's theories regarding the nature of presence and absence in language, this paper seeks to interrogate the ways that the discourses, linguistic constructions, and episode structure itself serve to create hybrid, mobile, and dynamic discourses about gender identity that collapse, confound and call into question the borders between gender binaries. This paper offers the concept of linguistic drag as a way of understanding this form of gender performance and parody. It is hoped that this paper, and specifically the concept of linguistic drag, may serve to expand and clarify future research into the ways that gender identity is both constructed and performed, both by members of drag communities, as well as within other cultural milieus.Keywords: drag; drag queen; reality television; gender parody; gender performance; RuPaul s Drag Race; homosexuality; gender identity; sexualityYou 're born naked and the rest is drag.'''-RuPaul's Twitter Tagline1. IntroductionFor those of you just tuning in, a siren goes off in the work-room. The gathered contestants, still in their street clothes: name-brand t-shirts, a few hoodies, distressed blue jeans. The contestants are chatting idly, cattily, in front of their huge vanity mirrors. Tatiana, who won the main challenge in the last episode, applies fingernail polish as she discusses the contest with Jessica Wild, one of her competitors (RDR 2010). A siren sounds, accompanied by a mellifluous voice, Ooooh, girl! You've got She-Mail (RDR 2010). At that signal the room full of men gathers around a television screen where a woman with huge teased hair addresses the room,Hey, dolls. To prove to me that you are the next drag superstar you are going to need to make a real commitment, one that could last a lifetime, or least until the next best thing comes along. Pull yourself together and you can have your cake and eat it too. When it comes to RuPaul's drag race we've only just begun. (RDR 2010)While this video plays reaction shots of the men's faces are played to highlight certain words and phrases. A quizzical expression on JuJuBee's face accompanies the word 'real,' and a knowing smile plays on the face of Pandora Boxx the phrase at least until the next best thing comes along (RDR 2010). At the end of the video a door opens, and the 'real' RuPaul is revealed. Now, however, he is no longer in her eleganza1 drag attire, but in a tailored white suit jacket, pink oxford-style dress shirt, and thick black framed glasses. This transformation, with the magic of pre-recording, takes but a split second. For viewers, the split-second nature of this transition may be novel, but for the drag queen contestants of RuPaul 's Drag Race (RDR), referred to as 'drag racers,' or just 'racers,' these kinds of transformations are represented as commonplace feature of their public selves. …
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