“The shade, the shade of it all!”
Have you ever wondered why the art of the subtle insult
comes so easily to some people?
Ever wished you could sharpen your tongue?
You need a lesson on throwing shade!
“I doubt we'll be conversing ever again unless
I take a sudden interest in dying of boredom.”
We’ve got tips galore on throwing shade,
but before that, you have to learn
and respect its history, and watch some masters
from both fiction and real life in action.
“I wanted to just throw out the names of divas
and get your one word reactions, get your impression
of theirs as singers.”
“Taylor Swift.”
“Okay. Great gowns, beautiful gowns.”
Here’s our Take on where Shade comes from,
what it memes -- and how to throw it so it lands.
“That's a part of shade. That's the idea,
knock 'em out if you can. Get 'em any way,
hit 'em below the belt.”
If you're new here, be sure to subscribe
and click the bell to be notified about
all of our new videos.
Thank you to SkillShare for sponsoring today's video.
SkillShare is an online learning community
where millions of people come together to take classes
that fuel their creative journey. the first 1,000 people
to use the link in our description
will get a free trial of SkillShare premium membership.
So become a member today and start exploring
your creativity for less than $10 a month.
We can find the term “throwing a shade”
as far back as Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park in 1814,
but lexicographer Grant Barrett has tracked the regular use
of the verb ‘to shade’ as a synonym for ‘to insult’
to the 1920s, when it was often used
by members of Black communities.
“I was able to trace it back to the 1920s,
when to shade somebody meant something very similar,
which would be to defeat or outdo or to best someone.”
The way we understand throwing shade today
is largely derived from drag ballroom culture,
which also began in earnest in the '20s, in New York City.
To shade is an essential tenet of drag culture,
having been used to describe a particular type of insult
by the Black and Latino drag communities.
“I would give you an explanation, if your outfit didn't look
like the inside of a coffin.”
[Surprised gasps and shrieks]
“Ooh, the shade of the panel!”
By the time the iconic ballroom documentary
Paris is Burning was released in 1990,
the term had taken on its new, more particular meaning,
related to the concept of “reading.”
“Shade comes from reading. Reading is the real
artform of insult.”
In the drag community, to read someone
is to insult them, and according to veteran queen
and Paris is Burning star Dorian Corey:
“You found a flaw and exaggerated it,
then you’ve got a good read going.
Then reading became a developed form,
where it became shade.”
Shade is less literal than reading; it can be veiled as a compliment,
take the shape of a look, or even manifest in a dance.
“Voguing came from shade, because it was a dance
that two people did because they didn’t like each other.
And whoever did the better moves was throwing the best shade.”
The art of throwing shade is a finetuned one,
and less can be more. It’s as much about
what you’re not saying as what you are.
“Shade is… I don’t tell you you’re ugly.
But I don’t have to tell you. Because you know you’re ugly.”
As Professor E. Patrick Johnson told The New York Times:
“If someone walks into a room with a hideous dress,
but you don’t want to say it's hideous,
you might say, 'Oooh … look at you!’”
“One of the tips is to do it really subtly,
so they don’t even realize that you’re insulting them
to their face!”
John Paul Brammer writes that, “Shade is all the more biting
because it makes the subject wonder, ‘Did that person just insult me?’”
Academic Seth E Davis writes that throwing shade
is “representative of a larger literacy,
specific to these [queer, Black] communities…
heavily informed by context.”
He calls shade “a practice of survival and self-defense”
for a community. When you consider the context --
of being part of an intersectional community
that has been systematically abused --
it makes sense that an
indirect, no-contact form of retaliation emerged.
“Your uniform of ill-fitting J.Crew culottes,
fake pearls and 50 cent scrunchies
cannot conceal the fact that you do not know
who you are.”
Nowadays, no one is exempt from shade --
or being accused of throwing it.
“Pete Souza was the official White House photographer
for all 8 years of the Obama presidency.
Souza’s Instagram feed described as a masterclass in shade.”
This has, in turn, opened up conversations about
cultural appropriation and the ways in which
gay and drag culture -- particularly those aspects
informed by Black and Latino communities --
are mined by more privileged people.
“Appropriation is when you come into our community
and you fetishise us, and then you take from us,
and you don’t acknowledge us.”
As we trace the anatomy of ‘throwing shade’
as a popularly used phrase, we can also gain insight
into how important the linguistic contributions
of Black, gay and drag communities are.
We're not going to be shady, just fierce.
“You were at that party, right?”
“No, it was called the icon party but there were no icons there.”
[Audience exclaiming]
And now, here are The Take’s top tips
for throwing stellar shade:
Shade Tip #1: Know the her-story
Throwing shade is pretty much part of our makeup as humans;
it’s believed we’re programmed to respond with facial expressions,
with the ‘nose scrunch’
(a particularly shady facial expression)
notifying others of your disgust or frustration.
But the assimilation of AAVE into mainstream language
is part of the wider problem of cultural appropriation;
so if you’re going to talk about throwing shade,
it’s important to know the term’s etymology first
and to pay respect to the Black and Latino
LGBTQ communities who created it
and gave it meaning.
“It’s a Halston.”
“Halston… for JC Penney?”
[Audience laughs]
Some members of the community don’t think the term shade
should be allowed to leave it;
one participant in Sean E Davis’ study said,
“I do feel like if the white community
or other communities get a hold of shade,
they definitely change the idea of what we see shade as.”
At the same time, it is also impossible to stop
linguistic appropriation, as words and phrases
inevitably get picked up and spread by countless speakers.
“Right after the inauguration I posted a picture on Instagram
of President Obama. My snarky caption just said:
‘I kind of like the old curtains better.’
Someone said that I was ‘shading’ Trump.”
Far more than half of English words are assimilated
from other languages, with over 10,000 words
coming from French after the Norman Conquest.
And already in a 1994 interview, the master of voguing Willi Ninja
talked about throwing shade in scenarios outside
the drag community, saying that it’s
“like watching Joan Collins going against Linda Evans
on Dynasty...
Or when George Bush ran against Bill Clinton,
they were throwing shade. Who got the bigger shade?
Bush did because Clinton won.”
“Thank goodness the networks have a fact check
so I don’t have to go blue in the face anymore.”
It still stands that if you’re unaware
of where shade comes from, you owe it to the term’s
originators to take the time to educate yourself.
And if you don’t, things can get a little embarrassing.
“Please don't don't try to, uh, throw shade just because
I'm making sure that we're -- ”
“I'm not throwing shade.”
Shade Tip #2: Be smart
Famously shady queen Bianca Del Rio says
you have to be smart about throwing shade.
“You have to be smart.”
Del Rio claims it’s not something you can learn;
either you’re great at throwing shade,
or you’re not.
“You have to be aware of your own faults,
and you also have to be quick, which is difficult,
you can’t really learn those things.”
And it’s true that some people just have a knack
for using alacrity and wit that leaves their
opponents spinning; take Parks and Recreation’s
Donna Meagle, whose way with words can leave people scrambling
to work out if they just got a compliment
or an insult.
“New shirt?”
“Yeah. I got it at the dude ranch
with my boyfriend.
You like it?”
“It's not my favorite shirt, but it is my
least favorite shirt.”
The key is to be observant and quick.
“I cannot see Karlie wearing it anywhere, honestly.”
“Not even to dinner with the Kushners?”
[Appalled silence]
TV writer Ira Madison III says that ‘shade is
like a tennis match’.
Another top tip is to be creative, not just cruel.
As RuPaul says,
“throwing shade takes a bit of creativity;
being a bitch takes none.”
Shade isn’t about being unkind for the sake of it;
it takes some artistry and imagination
to keep it funny.
“I am in six inch heels. You're in the sort of heel
I wear when I'm asleep or suffering from food poisoning.”
One of Davis’ study participants says,
“If you’re gonna throw shade,
it’s important to know the boundaries between
shade and disrespectful. It’s right there on the cusp.”
The tension between throwing great shade
and just being mean is articulated regularly in POSE.
Take this scene, when the House of Ferocity comes over
to throw shade at the House of Evangelista.
“Why don’t you all just go home, and save yourselves from
the humiliation of defeat?
[Touching Blanca's chin] Ah!”
“What happened, girl?”
“I cut myself on Blanca’s stubble.”
This shade doesn’t land, and the complex political setting
of the show explains why. Blanca is an HIV positive
trans woman living through the height of the HIV epidemic.
“You have no idea what it is like to be a woman living with HIV…
Straight men still think that they can catch this virus
from a spoon, they want nothing to do with me.”
As a character, she is regularly experiencing transphobia
in the wider world, so she refuses to accept
hateful comments from people within her community.
“I’m here to uplift and celebrate the work of
everyone in our community this year… I’m not gonna even try
to throw your nasty shade back at you.”
Get your body language down
As Willi Ninja says, the dance style voguing
is a form of shade-throwing.
“If I make my hand into a compact, then I’ll start doing their face,
because what they have on their face right now
needs a dramatic makeup job.”
Physicality plays a huge part in the art.
A stare; a glare, a hand gesture or a flick of the hair;
using your body language can be absolutely key.
And your facial expressions are an important way
of showing how you feel.
It’s also always worth working with your surroundings;
the way that Lucille Bluth slowly closes the door
on her son Gob here is super shady, for example.
“I just thought we could hang out.”
“[Wordlessly creaks door shut]”
Likewise, if you have a prop -- a mirror, a fan or,
like the ladies from Dynasty, a glass of champagne --
you can use it to throw shade, too.
If you’re feeling particularly extra,
take a leaf out of Real Housewives of Atlanta’s
Kenya Moore’s book and bring a fan with you
if the forecast says shade.
“You brought your fan, huh?”
“Oh yeah, you know… It's drama.”
“Wow.”
“[Laughing]”
Speak the truth
As Dorian Corey says, when you’re reading someone,
you have to make sure what you’re saying is truthful,
because that’s what cuts the deepest.
“Sometimes, when you read to me, I pretend to fall asleep
so you'll go.”
“[Whimpers]”
Drag queen Manila Luzon says that shade should be
both funny and true.
“Make it funny, because, you know, just in case
they get really offended, you know, at least there’s
something to laugh about… There has to be 100%
truth behind it.”
One easy way to throw shade is by seeking out a weakness --
something the other person may be self conscious about
“What's up, girl?”
“Keep walking, 98.”
“You don't even want to talk to that guy?
He plays in the NFL.”
“He's a linebacker. Skill positions only
for Donna Meagle.”
Examples of this can be found in the strangest places;
such as an episode of Bridgerton, where Madame Delacroix
is careful not to out-and-out insult the Featheringtons,
but says just enough to make them squirm,
“Because you were able to pay in advance this time,
and since I happened to have some fabrics
no one else seemed to want...”
or this scene from Frozen: After the Duke of Weselton
casts aspersions on Elsa’s character
early in the movie,
“She nearly killed me!”
she doesn’t forget it. She cuts off trade with Weselton,
but she adds insult to injury by sending a servant
to throw shade at him (something that triggers
his low self esteem),
she then goes one step further,
by getting the servant to play on the other weakness
she knows the Duke has: his anxiety about
the mispronunciation of his principality.
“Arendelle will henceforth and forever no longer
do business of any sort with Weasel Town.”
“Weselton! It’s Weselton!”
A perfect lesson in shade from an ice queen.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the shadiest of them all?”
There are some characters -- both real and fictional --
who are incredible at the art of shade,
using a look or a word to convey devastating
amounts of meaning. Studying our favorite
shade-throwing fictional characters and real-life masters,
we can learn from the best
“I'm here to support you. You're the one who's all alone
and likely to stay that way.”
Take Naomi Campbell. She’s incredibly adept
at saying almost nothing while imbuing what she does say
with serious shade.
“...Wants to know your views on Kendall Jenner being
the highest paid model while saying she cherry picks
her jobs and could never do 30 shows in a season.”
“Next question.”
She uses her body language, too, flashing a false smile
to signal that what she’s saying may not be true,
and throw shade on someone else
“It seems Naomi Campbell and Rihanna unfollowed
each other on Instagram, is everything OK?”
“[Calmly smiling] Everything’s fine.”
What’s especially clever about this is that
she isn’t actually saying anything bad;
it’s all implied, and that makes it
really difficult for the people she’s throwing shade on
to complain.
On the other hand, shade comes so naturally
to some people that everything they say
seems a little bit cutting.
Schitts Creek’s Moira Rose doesn’t necessarily
mean to be shady, yet she delivers healthy doses
of shade in every episode, from getting her son’s
boyfriend’s name wrong,
“You know, I was gonna go, uh, make a run to the cafe,
I can get you a tea if you want.”
“No, that's not necessary.”
“How serendipitous. Thank you, Peter.”
“It's Patrick.”
to the show-stealing high camp outfit
she wears to their wedding.
She throws shade at her own kids, bringing up irrelevant subjects
to have a little dig at David:
“I have some news.”
“Oh, David, I'm not sure I'm in the mood to hear
about another sexual exploit.
I'm sorry, who is it this time?”
-- and questioning her husband’s reasons for hugging them:
“I was just, uh, hugging my kids.”
“Why?”
However, it’s possible that some of Moira’s barbs
stem from the fact that her life has been
turned upside down, and throwing shade
makes her feel powerful.
“That's the spirit. If Jocelyn can do it,
anyone can... Yeah. Yeah.”
Shade is an extension of Ruthie from Shrill’s personality, too.
Her double edged compliments fit right in with the
traditional definition of shade: highlighting others’
deepest anxieties while seemingly saying
something nice about them.
“I may be turning 24, but my wish is to be
as wise and amazing as the oldest person I know,
my gay grandpa, Gabe.”
Elsewhere, How to Get Away with Murder’s Annalise Keating
is one shady lady, as show creator Shonda Rhimes
has stated.
“You think we soul sisters just cuz you rented out
a hair salon for a few hours on the black side of town.
Please!”
Annalise can make her students feel small,
but she never does so unnecessarily.
A lot of the time, when she’s throwing shade,
it’s to drive home a point.
“Never take a learning opportunity away
from another student. No matter how smart
you need everyone to think you are.”
Perhaps the best current onscreen examples of shade --
closest to how Dorian Corey described it in Paris is Burning,
over 30 years ago -- arrive courtesy of
ballroom drama POSE. In this scene, while Elektra
reads a transphobic woman in a restaurant,
“God may have blessed you with Barbies,
a backyard with a pony, and a boyfriend named Jake
and an unwanted pregnancy that your father paid
to terminate so you could go to college and major
in being a basic bitch.”
-- her friends Lulu and Angel click their fingers
and embody their disgust. Once she has finished --
“Now pick your jaw up off the floor,
go back to your clam chowder and shallow conversations.”
-- Elektra shoos the woman away. In another scene,
where Blanca goes head to head with Frederica,
the landlord of her nail salon, we see how she employs shade
to give her power in the situation,
which links back to the idea of shade as a form of armor.
Earlier in the episode, Frederica tells her:
“By the year 2000, there won’t be a neighborhood in this city
where a normal person feels uncomfortable walking.”
then, when Frederica tries to evict her, Blanca does
an impersonation of Frederica
I’m not here to gentrify neighborhoods so white ladies
like you can feel comfortable walking down the street.
Frederica isn’t used to being spoken to like this,
and despite being deeply prejudiced against Blanca,
she’s kind of impressed.
“I’m not easy to get the best of.
I almost admire you.”
The characters in POSE are the whole package:
smart, quick witted and well-versed culturally,
and they’re also bold enough to speak out --
against fellow ball-attendees who cross them,
or wider structural problems.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“I told you. I’ll be here every night
until you serve me.”
The show gives a great grounding, not only in throwing shade,
but in why the concept exists in the first place.
The act of throwing shade is an inherent
human response to conflict, but the terminology belongs to
a culture that has been systemically abused,
so it’s important to respect and acknowledge its roots
while you use our top shade-throwing tips.
In a world that's often cruel, it's good to have a recourse
that repackages negative energy in a fun way.
“Can you give us an example of a time when you made peace
with someone you didn't see eye to eye with?”
“I looked across at Ms. O'Hara and realized that she was ugly...
and I'm at peace with that.”
And when the time comes that you have to take shade?
You have two options. Throw it straight back,
or smile and don’t
let it touch you.
Remember what Pose’s Candy said:
“That's 'cause you can’t shade something that’s shining so bright.”
This is The Take -- on your favorite movies,
shows, and culture. Thank you so much for watching
and for supporting us. Please subscribe and
never miss a Take.
Thanks so much to SkillShare for sponsoring today's video.
SkillShare offers thousands of affordable classes
designed to fit your schedule with short video lessons
that you can pause and come back to at any time.
One SkillShare original you can check out right now
is Nikkolas Smith's class on creating art
that inspires change. Smith is known for his
activist art paintings and posters for beloved movies
like Black Panther and Southside With You.
At the end of this course, you'll feel empowered
to tap into whatever cause you feel passionate about
to create impactful art with clear, effective messaging.
Right now, SkillShare is offering our viewers a free trial of
SkillShare premium membership. But that's only if you're
one of the first 1,000 people to click the link
in the description below. So join today and jumpstart
your creative journey for less than $10 a month
with an annual subscription.