Drag Performance during the 1980s in NYC - Research Paper Example

?Introduction Gay experiences and the male cross dressing are both considered belong to marginalized to American Society and most often misunderstood. From these related marginal position where this paper evolves, and the hope to bring light to understanding the experiences of gay as well as the drag queen and their differences. Gay and drag queen usually judged according to how they look but the people never gave themselves the opportunity to grasp the importance of accepting them and give them the rights of acceptance in the society where they live upon. Drag queens have long been existed and later on contributed a lot especially in the culture and art, they shows the flexibility and the craftsmanship which helps certain industry evolves to be artistic, amazing and enjoyable. Drag performance must be given deeper understanding to be able to see the superficial meaning and from this, we would understand the hidden structures of society. History of Drag Drag is originally used for clothing, significant and symbolic usually associated with the role of a certain gender when worn by the opposite gender. The term was originated Athens, Greece somewhere in the fourth century BCE, as a form of punishment across the streets. Drag is a symbolic word which does not simply means clothes. Men portrayal as women are manifested even way back thirteenth centuries when the church forbade females appearance on the stage and theaters. For hundreds of years, men are manifested to be dressing as women as a disguised to the opposite sex in theatrical presentations and stage shows. This has also been first traced back to the dawn of the theater as a sort of survival and since then, found to be manifested in all the corners of the world especially in Japan and in China. When the drag practices became popular in some parts of the world and accepted as a form of art among the men as drag artist, categories were defined according to professionalism in rendering drag artistry into the public. Kinds of drag artists like those who starred in movies vary professionalism. There are also called drag queens and mostly vary from their culture of their respective places. However, drag queens are always tagged as gay men or transgender but it is also relevant to say that there are also drag artist who do this for a reason considering the fact that they are a straight people or transvestites. Transvestites belong to different categories compared to drag queens who belong to the gay world, they are cross-dressers who generally straight men and were just dressing women’s dress for erotic reason. The appearance of the drag queen in print was first seen in 1941. Late 20th century defined the drag as an abbreviation of “dressed as girl” and as a counter part, “drab” is the “dressed as boy” but this was never published and unrecorded. Drag is being practiced by people of all sexual orientations as well as gender identities. Charles Busch and Theater in Limbo Laying down some important information about Charles Busch, he is born in August 23, 1954 in New York, NY. Busch is an American, an actor and a playwright. Since he have started in the industry, he already achieved 25 stage appearances, 5 in films, 6 TV appearances and 26 stage plays. For around a longer period of time of Busch in the industry, in 1984 he was able to break the wall of competition and stand out among the rest in theater-in-Limbo. This was presented at the Limbo lounge at East Village’s. This was followed in the Avenue C and when the show hits a record as high, this was transferred to the Provincetown Playhouse in the West Village where it ran for around five years consecutively. The continuous exposure of Busch brought him to enormous success that made him held as the queen of drag among the theaters in the city. Moreover, he was also nominated in 2001 at the Tony award for the Best Play “the Tale of the Allergist’s Wife that ran for 22 months in Broadway. Over the years, Busch shows craftsmanship in doing and sharing his talents not only in the American viewers but to the world. He shows and shares different roles from a notorious wife of Emperor Justinian, a Malibu Tomboy, a concert pianist fleeting the Nazis, an opium-addicted American diplomats wife, to playing as the Mother Superior of St. Veronica’s convent in 1960’s Pittsburg. With Busch flexibility and perseverance, he was presented as the writer of the Tony Award-nominated play “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” along with the 2011 Innovative theatre Luminary Award held at the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation’s Cabaretion at Therapy’s upstairs Lounge. This Foundation tends to honor Busch as an exemplary inspiration to other artist and has achieved eminence in the field of artistry. Busch was among the founder of the Off-Off-Broadway Company theatre in Limbo during the 80’s where most of his plays were performed until he explores more into writing that brought him to be a nominee of the Tony award in 2001. What is Camp ? Camp is aesthetics; it is a sense of liking things because there is something unusual to it or out of the context or norms. In the USA, it is described as “campy” or “cheesy”. When these terms first came into usage in 1009, this denoted as exaggerated, theatrical, and belongs to the feminine behavior. However, by the middle of the 70’s, the definition of the term evolves to be artifice, mediocrity, and considered to be extreme expressions of sophisticated perversely appeal. Camp being considered as aesthetics shows popularity from the 60’s to the present. Film makers gave way to the popularity of the camp since they have been using this in their works to gain the attention of the viewing public. Even celebrities are well associated with the camp personas like the drag queens and even with some female personalities in the film industry. Camp is considered as parts of the popular culture during the 60’s and continue its popularity in the 80’s as the world adopts the post modern views on art and culture. Camp was able to connote common perspective as the post-modernism rises. Although this has a strong distinction on the gay male communities as a dominant cultural pattern, the acceptance of gayness as effeminacy was manifested and made the way for the camp not to be identified to any specific groups. Two of the main key components of camp are the swish and drag performance. The swish refers to the superlatives while the drag refers to exaggerated female impersonation and even extended its usage including female impersonators in the exaggeration on the deliberations of acts in certain plays and films. Version of such acts of drag as a part of camp was adopted by literary and art critics and eventually became a part of the conceptual array of the 60’s culture. In dealing with the understanding of camp, there is a need of a critical analysis because camp it self is a critical analysis and at the same time a big joke. In spite of its humorous attributes, it is an allusion. A campy person usually has the intention of making fun and manipulating the situation in a humorous way. Although camp is a joke, serious analysis are being rendered by those people who have the willingness in making and rendering joke out of themselves especially in proving a point. Drag is a part of camp. Feminine apparel occasionally is the one being utilize in drag. The use of make-up and feminine garments and accessories are popularly used by drag kings, including high heels hats, jewelry or anything that would make them feminine in an exaggerated way. Films and televisions have proven the use of camp as an effective way to success in airing for quite a longer period of time like gag shows all over the world. Famous drag performers in 1980's Here are some of the famous drag performers from different countries who excel and express the art of drag during the 80’s. 1. Vince Picente, Canadian 2. James Roy Eicheberger, merican 3. Reg Bundy, American 4. Benjamin Smoke, American 5. Danielle Patrick Caroll, Irish 6. Bobby Marchan, American 7. Charles Pierce, American 8. Colin McLean, Zealander 9. Craig Russel, Canadian 10. Sammy Duddy 11. Tyler Perry, American 12. Ed Wood, American 13. Jeffree Star, American 14. Sylvester 15. Bradley Traynor, American The Political Drag Performers and why they did what they did At least from the 1950’s, drag queens have been popular throughout the world. For around a long period of time, drag has been a specific symbol in the indication that someone is a gay and has a distinctive feature towards homosexual men. Drag has long been a way in constructing to the public the gay identity. This is also often used as a political tactic in marches across the streets and demonstrations along the city corners. Gay drag queens were often reinforced by the raids by those who are in authority to the gay bars where they usually work and expressed their feeling and practice their rights. However, the constant raids lead them to form a movement and be organized. Drag is a way and means of bending the norms and same way, challenging the idea of gender. This would only mean that this act is considered as subverting the conventional norms of gender in a one rule idea about the heterosexuality. Drag queen expresses and creates disjunction between the relationship of sex and gender, implying and suggesting that identities have far more meaning than generally assumed. Drag as a strong political vehicle is being used towards the acceptance that there is still identity that exists aside from the norms being assumed by the public. Moreover, they are doing this to express their rights as a human being, and they want to be recognized and be accepted as a part of the society. Drag serves a high possibility to be a catalyst in changing the values, ideas, and even identities in the twenty-first century. Drag can actually challenge the social boundaries of various identities as have been accepted socially through addressing gender, aids, race, as well as the disability. Drag is very expressive about its actions that indicate how intentional they are with their performance in pushing the gender boundaries. However, drag is considered a political move in reinforcing the social conventions of the existing norms (men/women) with regard to gender. On the other hand, gay men have negative insights when it comes to dealing with drag queen because they are thought to be reinforcing the homophobic stereotype of gay men as effeminate. Drag queens seems to be fighting for their rights in the middle of the existing norms of identities (men/women) and gay men who originally are different from the drag queen ideally and who have also some battles within the acceptance of their identities by the societies. Drag queens are considered to be the marginalized group even within the gay community. They have the connotation from the view of the gay community or lesbian and heterosexual feminists that they are degrading the women’s social status by making them an object of embarrassment and ridicule. Charles Busch's Plays and what they stood for? Throughout Busch theatrical career as a writer and performer, he has created and marked memorable female characters and he was mostly inspired by the Hollywood’s golden age actresses. Includes his plays are Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Lady in Question, Psycho Beach Party, and the Red Scare on sunset. Busch cinematic ideas and education started during his childhood. With all his shows that ran from over the theaters and television, people were amazed and curious to ask him if he is making a research before doing all these and he would answer them that he began doing the research since he was seven by watching all the Hollywood movies and observing how is the acting done by the actresses during those times. And by the age of twelve, Busch claims that he has absorbed enough techniques and that is what he was using through his entire career. Busch also serves as the script writer by some of the plays where he also played the lead role and eventually also gave him the way to win Tony Award for best play, won him the outer circle critic John Gassner Award for Playwriting. In 2003, Busch received the 2003 drama Desk Award for Career achievement as a Playwright and Performer. Everyone who knows Busch, seen his works, manifests his flexibility and craftsmanship would stood up for his undeniably, notably and magnificent talent being shared not only to his generation and to his country but to his timeless legacy and inspiration in all parts of the world. Conclusion There are two main points to consider in this paper, drag as a means of subversion towards the heterosexual convention of gender and the other one is drag that reinforces the men/women binary that at a certain point of time degenerates their status. In this paper, it was discussed that either of the two holds to be true. In this case, it is relevant to conclude that the role of the drag queen is not a question that requires a definite answer. Considering the fact that the drag performance has no essential factor, nevertheless, it does not render any interpretation for a performance to be invalid. Comparing and evaluating various forms of action from the point of view of the political efficiency would only mean that the action render is an expression taken as a vehicle to introducing their identity, free it from criticism, and be accepted by the society. Drag queens achievement for political significance would only be materialized only if people would acknowledge the hegemonic conventions of the rigid binary of gender roles. Reference Rupp, L. & Taylor, V. (2003). Drag queens at the 801 Cabaret. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Read More