Having said this, I am genuinely really excited for Drag Race Down Under. There used to be a wink-wink-nudge-nudge to that, but maybe Drag Race is simply too big to try and pretend there’s a veneer of irony anymore, akin to celebrating the ‘anti-capitalist’ messaging of a Disney film. But where UK2 centred the queens, S13 centred Drag Race as a product. It creates ‘community’ across the globe, and personally has been central to beginning to embrace queerness back when as a baby gay and helped me make so many friends (and my ‘career’ too). It remains so important and vital, capable of so much, elevating amazing artists and voices. Junkee), I am only so critical because I love this show so much. Still, I want to make it clear (that’s why you brought me here, Mr. I get where they were going with the end lip-sync being ‘Till The World Ends’, but there’s something awfully dystopic in watching a car park of masked actors cheer on people performing in spite of their governments’ absolute failure to contain a pandemic, where Viacom and some Seltzer company find a way to continue to filming their show, which feels like it sells representation rather than embraces it. But I guess Drag Race is usually a reprieve, and this season, it was hard to feel that distance. Sure, it’s ridiculous to think Drag Race will somehow navigate all the evils of capitalism, and clearly this frustration is tied into much broader anger over how COVID pulled back any veneer of care from the wealthy and corporations. Nina Bo’nina should have been Blac Chyna, and Marianne Williamson should have cheered on the queens: she understands the toxic forces that need to be sweated out of the system, the campness of hope and love as an actual belief beyond your own monetary profit. But it’s like the show itself puts that to the side, and meanwhile gets a Democratic senator to equate freedom, drag and American liberty in some hackneyed pre-lipsync message, as if the country isn’t a failed state that refuses to provide substantial support to its citizens, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. Then, Yvie Oddly again subverted it, by lip-syncing in that mesmerising mirror-head outfit, adding so much depth to her performance.Īt the core of S13, we saw Symone overcome her inner demons, centre her Blackness and be absolutely radiant, a true star who would have been a contender on any season without her connections. That showstopper resulted in S10’s retrospectively empty lipsyncs, where the over-reliance on reveals saw a butterfly massacre and a lot of splash, no substance. Sasha Velour’s ‘So Emotional’ lip-sync changed the game (somewhat ironic since she’s probably the queen who has estranged herself from the show the most post-crowning, bar James, fka Tyra). Yes, they’re electric, and each lip-sync had a room of queers jumping up from their seats and screaming in my house this weekend: pure joy! But it also can feel like the queens who really succeed in this new-ish format are the ones who try to remain true to some level of artistic pursuit while providing the necessary TV spark. Unfortunately, Drag Race is all of drag for most people, and its emphasis on aesthetics and spectacle never feels more hollow than these grand lip-sync finales. Side note: so happy LaLa Ri won Miss Congeniality. And that, sincerely, is really lovely - it’s clear, from both Gigi and Symone’s time on the show, that this is a nourishing family of queer artists, their works being the best of each person. But she is connected: the House of Avalon’s lead designer Mark Monroe is self-evidently an incredibly creative, singular designer, and Symone’s drag is a team effort between herself, Mark, sister Gigi Goode (who does her hair), and her chosen family. Symone, herself, isn’t particularly rich (as far as we can tell). Yvie Oddly summed it up, saying while drag’s popularity is a net good, “it also is very dangerous, because that means it can become all about capitalism, right? It can be all about who has the connections, who is spending the most money.” But (and there’s going to be a lot of ‘but’s in this recap) the fact that show shoved a mini-ball into the finale really gets to the crux of where I think the general fatigue stems from: does that $100,000 cheque just pay off what these queens spend to be on the show? And what about the losers? Cash > Uniqueness, Nerve, TalentĪ widely circulated Vice article about the cost of Drag Race discussed the financial barriers of the show, as the audience expects more and more each season. Neither did UK2, among the show’s best seasons, concurrently airing. The length definitely didn’t help - airing over four months is a lot.
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