[Music]
drag has always played its part in
cinema from straight characters
cross-dressing for comedy to Cary Grant
winking at the audience because I just
went day all of a sudden right through
to biological women vamping it up for
the camera I'm Trixie Mattel and I'll be
your guide to drag in cinema for the
next four and a half minutes in John
Waters iconic pink flamingos the
legendary drag queen Devine combines all
of this into a grotesque caricature of
womanhood designed to provoke the
straight middle classes of America
divine looks like one tired-ass showgirl
with her crazy eye makeup high on her
balding head hair drawn back and an
array of gowns and fur coats this
shit-eating Queen couldn't be more at
odds with 1970s Baltimore at a primal
level the audience gets its life from
the idea of female depravity pink
flamingos mocks middle-class America in
broad daylight but cabaret gross shade
at 1930s Germany by night vehicle men
Bienvenue welcome
the draggy MC and liberated queers of
the Cabaret are a slap in the face to
totalitarian politics at the same time
the musical presents an alternative to
that violence in hatred by making the
world of Cabaret and drag a warm
reconstructed family for lost souls
[Music]
over time drag queens start to be seen
as emancipated figures and the drag
world is shown as an alternative family
unit
Jenny Livingston's iconic Paris is
burning which introduced so many people
to the world of drag shows us drag
mothers Queens who take in other Queens
and protect them from the world that
turns its back on them it's important to
me to be a mother because there's so
many little kids that have to look out
for drag reconfigures the idea of
motherhood and family where people are
connected by so much more than their
blood drag families are less painful
less strict better dressed and blessed
with much better taste in music
[Music]
in The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of
the desert the drag queen played by Guy
Pearce introduces Benjamin a child to
the world of drag you see them dance and
lip sync together after Benjamin's
mother has handed him over to his queer
drag queen father but most of all dry
Queens and cinema stand for a letting it
all hang out or should that be tucking
it all away how many times do I have to
tell you Green is not your color
one of drags main attractions is the
idea of putting on a show performing
gender gives an added dimension to the
musical or dance performance and that to
mention is queerness look at dr.
frankenburger and the Rocky Horror
Picture Show he certainly wants you to
[Music]
when he disrobes revealing his kinky
glitter and lace ensemble complete with
thigh high stocking and patent leather
heels the murderous sexually deviant
scientist is clearly villainous but we
love him for it by making the bad guy a
sexy queen the film queers Frankenstein
as a drag mother who gives birth to and
then seduces her creation this is the
essence of camp something that takes us
out of normality shaking up white bread
complacency triumphantly trampling over
mainstream turf what's fun in these
performances is seeing Queens taking
over making their own rules and making
squares squirm deep down we know that
however powerful she seems on stage in
the real world that sequin is an
underdog because to come back to Paris
is burning and everything comes back to
Paris is burning darling the people it
depicts are fighting struggling to
create their own space their own
identity the youth thoria of drag comes
from adversity and it do take nerve
there's joy in seeing people who were
sidelined Come Dancing into the
spotlight to snatch that crown
[Applause]
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