Serving (Hyper)Realness: Applying Baudrillard to Drag

Note: This article was written after the release of RuPaul's Drag Race season 12, and has not yet been updated to reflect the most recent seasons of the program.

Introduction

With its media popularization through the rise of RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag has become an art form known and appreciated by many, even beyond the LGBTQ+ community where we find its roots. While the series should be praised for the awareness it brings to queer identities and issues, it should also be criticized for its shortcomings in its limited representation of drag. Between RuPaul’s Drag Race and additional spinoffs like RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, RuPaul Charles has a monopoly on drag in television that comes with the ability to shape the viewer’s perception of drag culture.

By turning to the history of drag and representing earlier periods of the culture with staple works of the time, we can begin to understand periods of drag culture as Baudrillard’s simulacra. The documentary The Queen (1968) will serve as a starting point, the original, which will lead to Paris is Burning (1990), the faithful copy, and finally we will return to our discussion RuPaul’s Drag Race as a warped copy (Baudrillard 9). By analyzing the changes and losses of elements of drag culture that are not present in today’s dominant drag television, viewers can gain a better understanding of drag as a whole--the scope of drag beyond what RuPaul’s Drag Race includes in its program. Particularly, we will be looking at the concept of “realness” as an example of an altered meaning across copies, and then turn to the bigger issue of loss of representation and inclusivity in current drag media.  Ultimately, understanding what has been lost between the origins of drag and the simulacrum that is RuPaul’s Drag Race can help viewers, especially those whose knowledge of drag and drag culture are limited to the show, fully appreciate the art form as well as acknowledge and embrace elements and members of the drag community otherwise forgotten/unrepresented in today’s predominant drag television.

Baudrillard’s Hyperreality & Drag’s Realness

To understand periods of drag as simulacra, we first need to understand Baudrillard’s theories. The allegory that Baudrillard calls upon to explain his theory of simulation comes from a story by Jorge Luis Borges, in which a map of a territory is made with so much detail that it is a one-to-one size ratio with the territory, covering it perfectly (Baudrillard 6). In relation to Baudrillard’s ideas, the territory is the original while the map serves as the faithful copy. Over time, the map becomes shredded and ruined, a perversion of the original and its meaning, and eventually when the map is completely shredded it reveals the territory beneath it, turned to a desert, as the map has replaced and erased the original before its own ruin. From this allegory, we can better visualize the phases in the progression of simulation. We can see the loss of the map in its ruin, and we can see the loss of the territory when it turns to desert. Moreover, Baudrillard points to a more subtle loss in what he refers to as the “charm” of the original: “Something has disappeared: the sovereign difference between them that was the abstraction’s charm… it is the difference which forms the poetry of the map and the charm of the territory, the magic of the concept and the charm of the real” (Baudrillard 6). This idea of “charm,” something lost between an original and its copies, is the focal point of my research. It is the frame for the lost/altered elements that we seek from earlier periods of drag as these elements relate to some lost meaning, some lost “charm.” 

Aiming for the most obvious tie to Baudrillard, we will discuss the drag term “realness” as an example of a meaning altered between copies. “Realness” in today’s usage of the slang differs from its usage in earlier periods of drag, like Paris is Burning, in which drag performer Dorian Corey describes “realness” within the example of the category “executive realness” as looking as close to one’s straight counterpart as possible, “showing the straight world that [one could] be an executive if [one] had the opportunity” by looking the part (Livingston). To be “real” is to be able to blend in or “pass” by presenting oneself “within a racially or socioeconomically specific form of heteronormativity” that one does not generally embody (Heller 133). In fact, LeBlanc likens this definition of “realness” to Baudrillard’s hyperreality: “to be real is to be unreal, a fictitiously perfect simulation of reality” (LeBlanc 60). “Realness” by this definition is fitting of Baudrillard’s theory of hyperreal simulation in that it “threatens the difference” between the “real” and “imaginary” (Baudrillard 7). This definition of “realness” as blending/passing comes from a time when one could be arrested for crossdressing and was more likely to face violence for being noticeably queer. Indeed, we are reminded of this in Paris is Burning with the murder of Venus Xtravaganza. Given the seriousness of passing in day to day life for many members of the LGBTQ+ and drag communities, we find ourselves asking, how did this term become distorted from its original meaning to become the increasingly common slang it is today?

“Realness” today still means to embody a category, but without the focus of passing. Instead, today’s “realness” in terms of drag culture is more concerned with artistic expression and fashion. One might say that someone wearing a black cape and hat is serving “witch/warlock realness” or that someone in a floral dress is serving “springtime realness.” In fact, “Barbie doll realness” is often used to describe Trixie Mattel (contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 7 and, as Trixie puts it, “winner winner chicken dinner” of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars season 3), who is known for her outrageous makeup and gigantic wigs that are far too over the top for Trixie to fit the blending/passing definition of “realness.” Trixie is still considered to be giving “realness” because her makeup and large blonde wigs are like extreme exaggerations of Barbie doll features, tying Trixie’s style to Barbie dolls regardless of how similar to Barbie dolls the appearance really is. This shift in definition is partially related to the development of “Club Kids” around the same time Paris is Burning was being filmed, who fostered a subculture of drag drawing from different inspirations than the pageants queens participating in the drag balls presented in The Queen and Paris is Burning. While pageant queens were inspired by models and celebrities, in line with wanting to present as passing, Club Kids looked to other influences: “Instead of drawing upon references of celebrities, [Club Kids] drew inspiration [from] movements and artists…” (Stanec 8). As a result, Club Kid “looks” were less about “realness” in terms of blending in and much more centered on becoming “walking art pieces,” creating room for further expression (Stanec 8). The impact that the fashion forward Club Kids had on nightlife and club culture created room for the definition of “realness” to evolve to its less rigid meaning today.

With an understanding of how the meaning of “realness” has shifted from the original blending/passing definition used in drag balls, one might worry whether or not the word is appropriate to use given the seriousness that passing in public often meant for queer individuals (especially when, for some, these threats still persist today despite progressive steps toward LGBTQ+ rights). However, the point of bringing this information to light is not with the intent to suggest that RuPaul’s Drag Race and its viewers should surrender usage of the word. Instead, this explanation of the word’s prior meaning is meant to educate viewers on the history of language being used on the show, and perhaps by viewers themselves as they learn drag terminology. It’s still perfectly fine to tell a gal pal that she’s serving “picnic bitch realness” in her gingham dress, but having background knowledge on the terminology can help viewers to better understand, connect with, and honor/remember the history and weight that some terminology comes with.

Periods of Drag as Simulacra

Although the origins of drag balls can be dated back to the first “queer masquerade ball” in late 1860s Harlem, the 1968 documentary The Queen will serve as the original period of drag because it gives insight to hardships and issues most relevant to its time, like the dangers faced by queer individuals, gender identity, and racism within drag pageants (Lawrence 3). Obviously, an hour long documentary cannot hold all necessary information needed to understand drag culture at the time. To remedy this, our discussion of this documentary as well as the next will include additional information from other sources as a way to supplement themes that can be expanded upon from the documentaries.

The Queen follows a man named Jack Doroshow who is a drag performer by the name of Flawless Sabrina in the days leading up to the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest in New York, which Flawless Sabrina is hosting. Early on, Sabrina comments on the difficulty of finding hotels willing to harbor drag queens. Indeed, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination were overwhelmingly common at the time. In fact, cross-dressing was criminalized in areas on a local level, making police harassment an unfortunately recurrent concern for drag performers. In 1962, for example, 44 attendees of a New York drag ball were arrested and charged for impersonation because they were dressed in drag (Stewart-Winter 64). The film also brings attention to gender identity when it is discussed amongst contestants, revolving around the question of whether or not the queens would get a sex change if possible. One of the contestants present says no, with the explanation: “I know that I’m a drag queen… I’ve been gay for a long time, but I certainly do not want to become a girl” (Simon). The inclusion of this dialogue is important in making the distinction that transgender individuals can be drag performers and vice versa, but that they are not mutually exclusive. In the final few minutes of the documentary, a third large issue arises: racism in drag pageants. The issue is brought to attention when Crystal LaBeija, fourth place in the ball, makes an accusation that the competition was rigged in favor of the white, amateur queen who won. Unfortunately, racism in pageants was not uncommon as “black queens were expected to ‘whiten up’ their faces” for any chance of winning a drag ball (Lawrence 3). Overall, The Queen pulls at key themes relevant to 1960s drag culture, most of which are still relevant to drag as a whole, which we will soon see carried through in later copies.

In response to the racism of drag pageants called out by Crystal LaBeija in The Queen, black queens began holding their own drag balls. Just four years following the documentary, Crystal LaBeija herself co-hosted a ball with a fellow queen named Lottie and founded the first drag House (House of LaBeija) with Crystal as the “mother.” This first ball was called “Crystal & Lottie LaBeija presents the first annual House of LaBeija Ball at Up the Downstairs Case on West 115th Street & 5th Avenue in Harlem, NY” (Lawrence 4). It is this ball and the legacy of the House that lead us to the next period of drag as a couple decades pass and Paris is Burning presents us with Pepper LaBeija, the second mother of the House of LaBeija.

Within the documentary Paris is Burning, we see a recurrence of the theme of identity, like discussion of sex change and representation of both gay men as well as transgender women, like Venus Xtravaganza, participating as drag performers. Balls had mildly changed in the decades between The Queen and Paris is Burning, but in an inclusive direction: more categories. Categories had previously existed, of course, as parameters for judging drag balls (as we see in The Queen with a swimsuit category, a gown category, etc.), but Paris is Burning shows the drastic expansion of the typical categories, from “executive realness” to “town and country.” Dorian Corey describes the category expansion as “what really made the balls change, so there was more involvement” (Livingston). This change allowed for more attendees to participate and explore identities otherwise unattainable in their day-to-day lives. The formation of drag Houses, too, is relevant to the theme of identity in Paris is Burning as queens created their own families by adopting/being adopted into drag families. Language like “mother,” “daughter,” and “father” is used to describe members of drag Houses, offering identity through kinship, hence Crystal and Pepper being referred to as mothers of the House of LaBeija. As a faithful copy of its original, drag culture and life continued to be a safe place for expression, especially for those in the LGBTQ+ community. The murder of Venus Xtravaganza reflects the violence that LGBTQ+ individuals face as discussed in The Queen, and as we have pointed out, the discussions of gender identity are continued. The main differences between this copy and its original are the push made for more inclusivity in the development of black pageants to steer away from racism in drag balls, the creation of Houses to build a stronger sense of family/belonging, and the addition of copious categories that allowed anyone interested to participate.

Turning to RuPaul’s Drag Race, we see that most major elements of drag culture are still present. Dangers faced by the LGBTQ+ community are discussed regularly in the Werk Room when contestants open up on a number of topics from being arrested for protesting, as Bob the Drag Queen discusses in the seventh episode of season 8, to familial disapproval, which Dusty Ray Bottoms discusses (season 10, episode 3) in explaining how her family forced her to undergo an exorcism when they found out their son was gay. This element of the show is one for praise in that it holds to an integral element of drag culture by repeatedly returning to and bringing awareness to LGBTQ+ issues. Also, the show intentionally binds itself to queer history through references to drag before it, specifically Paris is Burning. An example of this is the phrase “eleganza xtravaganza” or just “xtravaganza” generally signifying an opulent event, like a ball challenge within the show, which is a reference to the House of Xtravaganza and Venus Xtravaganza, the performer who passed during the filming of Paris is Burning. Though these references are made, establishing a connection between the two works, there is discourse over whether these ties are aimed to keep this history alive/educate viewers or with less preservation-oriented goals in mind, like to draw in an LGBTQ+ audience through recognizability or to give the show a “queer legitimacy” (Edgar 135). The question then turns to what has been altered/lost when entering this new period of drag. For some, the answer is obvious, but for others unfamiliar with the history of drag culture it might be overlooked. Obvious or not, the fact remains that RuPaul’s Drag Race underrepresents drag performers beyond gay, cisgender males, not only disregarding drag kings (cisgender women performing drag as men) and bio/faux queens (cisgender women performing drag as women), but also underrepresenting transgender queens, who have been crucial to drag’s development.

Much of the controversy surrounding RuPaul’s/the show’s stance on transgender queens arose in 2018 when RuPaul Charles told The Guardian that he would “probably not” let a transgender woman (post-operation) onto the show as a competitor with the explanation: “You can identify as a woman and say you’re transitioning, but it changes once you start changing your body” (The Guardian). The show received backlash from those who perceived this explanation to be teetering on the edge of transphobic for the implication that transgender people are not valid unless they have transitioned, and fans with existing knowledge of drag culture beyond RuPaul’s Drag Race found this statement to undermine the importance of transgender performers in drag’s history. Erasure of the significance, relevance, and practically the existence of transgender drag queens (as well as drag kings and bio/faux queens) is further evident in the show in more subtle ways, like one of the show’s long running catch phrases for example: “Gentlemen, start your engines, and may the best woman win,” though in 2018 the beginning of this line was changed to “ladies and gentlemen” to rectify some of these shortcomings.

Looking to our original, The Queen, as well as the previous copy, Paris is Burning, we can see the existence of transgender performers and their involvement in the drag community. Rachel Harlow, the winner of the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest featured in The Queen, was a transgender woman; Venus Xtravaganza, who longed to be a “spoiled rich white girl” and was tragically killed during the filming of Paris is Burning, was a transgender woman as well. Yet, in its twelve seasons, adding up to sixteen with the inclusion of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars, we have only seen around half a dozen transgender queens, most of which came out after being on the show. Prior to the controversial statement given to The Guardian, there had been two queens visibly representing the transgender community during or before the filming of their seasons: Monica Beverly Hillz, who came out as transgender on the show in its fifth season, and season nine’s Peppermint, who came out prior to the show (Kim). Following the controversial statement and resulting backlash, the show did go on to include Gia Gunn, a transgender woman who competed in season six prior to coming out, in their fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars. Whether this casting decision was made simply to counter the backlash or as a genuine apology for underrepresenting transgender queens is up for debate--a debate that former competitors on the show have since spoken out on.

While at the time many acknowledged the inclusion of representation through Gia Gunn as a positive outcome, some viewers held their breath, waiting instead for the cast reveal of season 12 to see if the show was actually changing its ways. The cast reveal took place on January 23, 2020 and provided the answer when all thirteen queens revealed were once again cisgender men. Despite receiving backlash, the show proceeds with this erasure of transgender significance to the drag community. Detox Icunt, a contestant on the show’s fifth season, responded to the continued underrepresentation made evident by season twelve’s cast by tweeting: “...it’s about the conscious exclusion of an integral part of the drag community. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for the trans performers that took me under their wings, and they deserve the same kinds of opportunities'' (Kim). Many viewers of the show with the knowledge of the history and importance of transgender drag performers share Detox’s understanding and view of the issue. However, for new viewers of the show and viewers without much knowledge of the LGBTQ+ community and/or drag culture, the erasure of transgender queens may go unnoticed. The underrepresentation is a deafening silence for those aware of it, but for those without the background, it is simply that: silence. With the monopoly that RuPaul Charles has on drag television, he has a significant amount of control over this period of drag. Returning to the idea of “charm” as a altered/lost meaning from the original, it seems clear that RuPaul’s Drag Race has replaced and erased much of the transgender representation in drag.

Conclusion

Through Baudrillard’s theory of simulations, we can understand periods of drag as different copies in the progression of the simulacra. In this understanding, we can look between the original and its copies to see the “charm,” or altered/lost meanings, that disappear in later simulacra. In our current period of drag, represented by RuPaul’s Drag Race, the most significant loss comes from the limitations set by the show in its conscious underrepresentation of transgender drag performers and other performers that break the show’s general mold of gay, cisgender male drag queens. Though the series can be praised for the queer visibility that it provides, especially in its growing popularity, it should also be criticized for its “limiting scope” of visibility through underrepresentation, running the risk of impeding progress rather than progressing it in terms of drag culture (Edgar 145). Though it has been referred to as “charm” in order to quote directly from Baudrillard, the word seems too soft for the severity of the drag culture being lost in television portrayals. The “charm” of the original that is being lost is part of the heart of drag culture; transgender individuals have always been involved in drag culture. As viewers of the show and/or general fans of drag performance, it is important to return to the origins of drag in order to stay educated, keep the history of drag culture alive, and honor those who have helped shape drag culture. More specifically, that means honoring transgender drag performers, as they have been pivotal in drag’s development.

Works Cited

Baudrillard, Jean. Jean Baudrillard, Selected Writings, ed. Mark Poster. Stanford University Press, 1988. Stanford, web.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Baudrillard/Baudrillard_Simulacra.html.

Edgar, Eir-Anne. “Xtravaganza!: Drag Representation and Articulation in RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Popular Culture Association, 2011, pp. 133-145. Academia,  s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/7058176/34.1.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DXtravaganza_Drag_Representation_and_Arti.pdf.

Heller, Meredith. “RuPaul Realness: the Neoliberal Resignification of Ballroom Discourse.” Taylor & Francis, 2018, tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10350330.2018.1547490.

Kim, Michelle. “Drag Race Alumni Criticize RuPaul’s ‘Conscious Exclusion’ of Trans Queens.” Them, 3 Jan. 2020, www.them.us/story/rupaul-drag-race-season-12-trans-queens-detox-carmen-carrera.

Lawrence, Tim. “‘'Listen, and You Will Hear All the Houses That Walked There Before’: A History of Drag Balls, Houses and the Culture of Voguing.” Academia, 2011, academia.edu/1066565/_Listen_and_You_Will_Hear_all_the_Houses_That_Walked_There_Before_A_History_of_Drag_Balls_Houses_and_the_Culture_of_Voguing_.

LeBlanc, Ray. “Facebook Realness: Exploring Online Authenticity through Drag Queens and the infamous ‘Real Name Policy’.” Southern Anthro, 2017, southernanthro.org/publications/southern-anthropologist/.

Livingston, Jennie, director. Paris Is Burning. Prestige, 1990.

Simon, Frank, director. The Queen. Grove Press, 1968.

Stewart-Winter, Timothy. “Queer Law and Order: Sex, Criminality, and Policing in the Late Twentieth-Century United States.” Journal of American History, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jav283.

Stanec, Stephen. “Titled: Exploring the Mainstreaming and Diversity of Modern Drag.” Digital Commons, 2018, https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/honorscollege_theses/197.