Essay from the year 2022 in the subject Cultural Studies - GLBT / LGBTIQ, grade: 17,0, University of Luxembourg, language: English, abstract: This essay gives an overview of the impact of RuPaul on the art of the drag. Drag has always been an art form of the LGBTQ+ community. Nevertheless, the roots of the artwork arose in the 17th century during the Shakespearian period as male actors portrayed female characters in the theatre which implies that they also wore female clothes and make-up. Furthermore, drag shows had their origin during that period as well which emphasizes that this art form was always part of the society. However, since the 18th century drag became an art which fights for the equality of the LGBTQ+ community. During the 1920s Julian Eltinge became the first famous American drag artist with their variety show and the American society was tolerant towards their queer art. However, after the Second World War, and the sex crime fears in 1930, drag acts were frowned upon. Nevertheless, in 1970 drag emerged with the beginning of drag balls being organized. During those runway shows, experienced drag queens got the opportunity to take up upcoming drag artists and potentially give them a home which made them become drag mothers as well as the head of their own House.

This edited volume is an exploration of the social, cultural, political, and commercial implications of the trailblazing reality television series RuPaul's Drag Race. Going beyond mere analysis of the show itself, the contributors interrogate the ways RuPaul's Drag Race has affected queer representation in media, examining its audience, economics, branding, queer politics, and every point in between. Since its groundbreaking and subversive entry into the reality television complex in 2009, the show has had profound effects on drag and the cultures that surround it. Bringing together scholarship across disciplines--including cultural anthropology, media studies, linguistics, sociology, marketing, and theater and performance studies--the collection offers rich academic analysis of Ru Paul's Drag Race and its lasting influence on fan cultures, queer representation, and the very fabric of drag as an art form in popular cultural consciousness.

This book identifies and analyzes the ways in which RuPaul’s Drag Race has reshaped the visibility of drag culture in the US and internationally, as well as how the program has changed understandings of reality TV. This edited volume illustrates how drag has become a significant aspect of LGBTQ experience and identity globally through RuPaul’s Drag Race, and how the show has reformed a media landscape in which competition and reality itself are understood as given. Taking on lenses addressing race, ethnicity, geographical origin, cultural identity, physicality and body image, and participation in drag culture across the globe, this volume offers critical, non-traditional, and first-hand perspectives on drag culture.

Start your engines--for the fun, controversy and life lessons of RuPaul's Drag Race and its spinoff, RuPaul's DragU. This international collection of original essays critically examines the shows' representation of drag within the contexts of the reality TV genre and LGBTQ issues. Contributors focus on the structure of the two programs, the subversive nature of drag itself, the treatment of trans contestants, the issues of race, the language and the shows' handling of LGBTQ political issues. A comprehensive discussion is provided of the shows' premise, the host and the contestants through six seasons of Drag Race and the three seasons of DragU.

Pencils down--graphite and eyebrow--and eyes to front of the room for this one-of-a-kind lesson. Since debuting over a decade ago, the world of RuPaul's Drag Race has steadily collected both popular and academic interests. This collection of original essays presents insightful analyses and a range of critical perspectives on Drag Race from across the globe. Topics covered include language and linguistics, cultural appropriation, racism, health, wealth, the realities of reality television, digital drag and naked bodies. Though varied in topical focus, each essay centers public pedagogy to examine what and how Drag Race teaches its audience. The goal of this book is to frame Drag Race as a classroom, one that is helpful for both teachers and students alike. With an academic-yet-accessible tone and an interdisciplinary approach, essays celebrate and examine the show and its spin-offs from the earliest seasons to the very start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

This volume is a study of the connected ideas of "queer" and "gender performance" or "performativity" over the past several decades, providing an ambitious history and crucial examination of these concepts while questioning their very bases. Addressing cultural forms from 1960s–70s sociology, performance art, and drag queen balls to more recent queer voguing performances by Pasifika and Māori people from New Zealand and pop culture television shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, the book traces how and why "queer" and "performativity" seem to belong together in so many discussions around identity, popular modes of gender display, and performance art. Drawing on art history and performance studies but also on feminist, queer, and sexuality studies, and postcolonial, indigenous, and critical race theoretical frameworks, it seeks to denaturalize these assumptions by questioning the US-centrism and white-dominance of discourses around queer performance or performativity. The book’s narrative is deliberately recursive, itself articulated in order performatively to demonstrate the specific valence and social context of each concept as it emerged, but also the overlap and interrelation among the terms as they have come to co-constitute one another in popular culture and in performance and visual arts theory, history, and practice. Written from a hybrid art historical and performance studies point of view, this will be essential reading for all those interested in art, performance, and gender, as well as in queer and feminist theory.

This book explores the connections between drag stardom and contemporary sexual and cultural politics in the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise. With Drag Race alumni achieving fame in fields such as music, fashion, theatre and beyond, this edited collection interrogates the relationships between gender, sexuality, performance, identity and celebrity culture that lie at the very heart of the show. RuPaul’s Drag Race has recently completed its 15th season after having won 26 Emmys. The show is a popular culture phenomenon, broadcasting drag into the homes of middle America, spawning spin off shows and an ever-expanding international franchise. Its success has made global stars of its host, guest judges and contestants alike. This edited collection explores the connections between drag stardom and contemporary sexual and cultural politics that RuPaul’s Drag Race stages and dramatizes. Alumni of Drag Race have gone on to become globally famous. Adore Delano and Sharon Needles have launched music careers. Violet Chachki is the first drag model to become the face of Bettie Page Lingerie whilst Jinkx Monsoon has achieved success as a Broadway star. In 2017 RuPaul was named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Above everything else RuPaul’s Drag Race is a show about celebrating the glamour, artifice and the labour of fame. Whilst Drag Race has already attracted scholarly attention (Brennan & Gudelunas eds. 2017) the relationships between gender, sexuality, performance, identity and celebrity culture that lie at the heart of its dynamic and appeal remain to be explored. RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Cultural Politics of Fame will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of Media and Cultural Studies, Gender Studies, Performing Arts, Media and Film Studies, Communication Studies and Sociology. The chapters included in this book were originally published as a special issue of Celebrity Studies.