Friday, January 12, 2007

What a drag!

Drag Shows. The poor imitations to obscure camp anthems, the loud screaming queens with filthy mouths not even a sailor would have and uncoordinated tragic dance moves. All in all, I have to say that drag shows are perhaps the worst kind of kitsch entertainment known to mankind.

The film, Priscilla Queen of the Desert has a lot to answer for. Now, that is not to say I didn’t enjoy Priscilla, I did. In fact, I blame the movie for my heightened expectations of drag shows because at least Mitzy, Felicia and Bernadette were well coordinated and knew what they were doing while performing. In reality, drag queens in Melbourne aren’t so great.

The costumes are average for the most part, the music is too loud and the lip-synching is so out of time that they may as well keep their mouths shut instead. Their only redeeming feature is the make-up - usually it’s fantastically over the top and bright.

But I’m lead to believe that Sydney drag queens are much better. How could Melburnian queens gotten it so wrong and is there a chance they can redeem themselves? Somehow I doubt it.

Each time I watch a drag show, I have a look of discontent and extreme boredom on my face. I am not amused. My friends look at me and laugh knowing that I’d rather be drinking or dancing than watching this rubbish.

Currently, the only drag queen I respect and enjoy watching is RuPaul. She knows how to perform while wearing her costumes and wigs. Her success went so far that she spawned two hit singles and has starred in a myriad of films, most notably in the Brady Bunch films and EdTV.

Am I not giving them a fair go? Am I expecting too much from drag queens? Have I completely missed the kitsch factor? Maybe, but in a community that praises such art, then they better be damn good at it.

Midsumma, Melbourne’s premier Gay & Lesbian festival starts in the next few days, in which no doubt there will be Drag Queen overload. And if they’re crap, my readers can expect to hear about it. Stay tuned.
RuPaul (in and out of drag) - the only queen with any cred

1 comment:

FEMBOTanist said...

Genza!

Can you email me with your new email address? I only have your old work one...

Glad to hear you had a good time in Hawaii!