Theater Talkback: The Dreg of Drags New York Times Article.
The article above ponders whether the age of drag queens is now obsolete. Drag queens, as stated in the article, can be defined as “a cleanshaven men who pencils in a pair of eyebrows, lipsticks his mouth into a rectangular blob and puts on a dress with major shoulder pads and, voila!: instant Joan Crawford.”
Ben Brantley, the author of this article explores the correlation between movements and eras in society to the popularity of drag queen transformation.
Ever since the 1960s, we have lost female role models to draw inspiration from. The thick and heavy makeup look disappeared during the reign of the hippies and is less common during the feminist movement.
We had Madonna and we have Lady Gaga now, but as Brentley pointed out, a man could dress like Lady Gaga, but he wouldn’t be a drag queen; he’d be an imitator.
The drag queen look hasn’t taken over, so while it’s place in society doesn’t bug me much, the concept of it is something to ponder. I always associated drag queens with transsexual men; ignorantly enough, I didn’t think it was a style, or something that was ever really followed in the theater. The perception that drag artists are extreme homosexuals is no longer the case. We live in a new era where as one commenter puts it “being in the same room with a man in a dress is no longer taboo.”
The reasons for why a man would dress and behave like a woman range from entertaining to serious to perhaps even disturbing. Looking past the reasons (which could go from simple theater performance to just trying to find your sexual identity) the resulting image is pretty astounding to me. I didn’t think any amount of makeup could make a man look like a woman, but I was proven wrong.
Is this an “art” though? The way you dress is indeed a form of self-expression. Or is the concept just thoroughly frightening? While I find the transformation really interesting, I feel like the idea of trying to put on a “feminine costume” is questionable. Does it represent a loss identity or mere entertainment? I’m more than willing to respect it as a type of art, yet I find it hard to find it truly appealing. Even though this style no longer holds strong ties with sexual identity as it used to, I still associate it with the journey to discover your own persona.
Cross dressing, drag and the “character” exploration of style and gender have a long history in popular culture. The exaggerated persona of the moment (Cab Calloway in the 40’s, Elvis in the 50’s, Hendrix in the 60’s, Elton John in the 70’s, Boy George and Madonna in the 80’s, Lady Gaga today) each explores an “over the top” style that transcends gender for its era. Much in the way that Haute couture is fun to look at, but no one really dresses that way, each of these figures presents a kind of “over the top” representation of a significant style aspect of their era. It is interesting to note how each defines (or is defined?) by the morality and social structure of his/her era.