The non-conformity; the extreme 'je ne sais quoi' of the show has created a new niche in reality television and liberated us in some small way of the strict gender performativity and conformativity in society. Its celebration of queerness, satire and sass have helped introduce a new generation to a sub-genre of gay culture that used to be hidden at best and demonised at worst. However, despite its obvious highlights there remains a subtle issue that tends to go uncontested.
In a recent episode the queens were asked to perform in "RuCo’s Empire", a satire of Empire. To bring this "show" to life, the queens brought forth a modicum of black stereotypes: popping of tongues, finger snapping, head shaking and African-American vernacular. This performativity of blackness from non-coloured queens was at best trite and cliché, playing on conventions, or just plain awkward. Problematic issues similar to this are certainly not new to Drag Race. Last year, the segment “She-Male” was removed from the show because of complaints from the trans community, among them former participants of the show.
Issues of intersectionality are often difficult to navigate but in a show that has afforded many drag queens a unique platform for fame, and as an unapologetically gay show, the show deserves to better important issues in society.
This is an interesting issue to bring up. It could be seen that drag, an art that is based on performativity, sees itself as able to get away with acting black because they are ‘performing’ it. It would be interesting to see the reactions of the drag queens who partook in this challenge, and if they were aware of their racism or just saw it as doing their jobs and ‘performing’. bell hooks’ work on the ‘Representations of whiteness in the black imagination’ would be a good source to investigate how Ru Paul’s drag queen’s representation of blackness could affect the way black people feel about their race, and how white people treat their race. Do you believe the reception of Ru Paul’s ‘Empire’ challenge was taken as offensive by white viewers as well as black viewers? And do you believe television media has a responsibility to control and limit negative racial stereotypes or is it down to the individual portraying the stereotype?
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting issue to bring up. It could be seen that drag, an art that is based on performativity, sees itself as able to get away with acting black because they are ‘performing’ it. It would be interesting to see the reactions of the drag queens who partook in this challenge, and if they were aware of their racism or just saw it as doing their jobs and ‘performing’. bell hooks’ work on the ‘Representations of whiteness in the black imagination’ would be a good source to investigate how Ru Paul’s drag queen’s representation of blackness could affect the way black people feel about their race, and how white people treat their race. Do you believe the reception of Ru Paul’s ‘Empire’ challenge was taken as offensive by white viewers as well as black viewers? And do you believe television media has a responsibility to control and limit negative racial stereotypes or is it down to the individual portraying the stereotype?
ReplyDelete