The Carnival Drag Grotesque: A Theory of Drag
Access status:
Open Access
Type
ThesisThesis type
Doctor of PhilosophyAuthor/s
Zafiriou, YiorgosAbstract
This thesis explores drag as a fascinating performance medium with a rich and complex history. The thesis is presented as intertextual, comprising two parts: a body of creative works and a written paper. Drag as a male cross-dressing performance is documented to contextualise ...
See moreThis thesis explores drag as a fascinating performance medium with a rich and complex history. The thesis is presented as intertextual, comprising two parts: a body of creative works and a written paper. Drag as a male cross-dressing performance is documented to contextualise contemporary drag as an important LGBTIQA+ performance medium. During gay liberation, drag had been a form of entertainment with a defiant socio-political ethos used for resistance, fun & survival. The question set out in the paper is: how can a theory of drag explore drag as a site of carnival to elucidate new ways of looking at sex, gender & sexual orientation? Drag is proposed as a carnivalesque performance framed as a conceptual lens viewing drag as grotesque carnival, initially theorised by Russian writer Mikhail Bakhtin, who explained carnival as having roots in pagan ritual where there is a dissolution of order, the destabilising of boundaries, and an abandonment of rules. As drag is a cross-dressing transformation simultaneously embodying the representation of both sexes, the drag persona is a form of carnivalesque mask, and this is explored as a metaphysical experience linked to ancient theatre, occult ritual, & grotesquery. For gay culture, artistic risk-taking and a radical rethinking of drag created the emergence of a grotesque aesthetic caused by a state of community grief, anxiety, and fear amid mass death from HIV/AIDS. This era also created conditions for the emergence of a queer identity, as a call to arms in the fight against HIV/AIDS and homophobia. Queer and queer theory is used in this thesis to explore a novel way of reimagining drag. A chapter is dedicated to Ballroom culture, a drag-centred movement started by LGBTIQA+ Black & Latino communities in the US. The exploration of the Carnival Drag Grotesque in this thesis will offer a deeper insight into a fascinating medium, steeped in ancient ritual & tainted with its own polemics, bringing drag to a material/mystical nexus.
See less
See moreThis thesis explores drag as a fascinating performance medium with a rich and complex history. The thesis is presented as intertextual, comprising two parts: a body of creative works and a written paper. Drag as a male cross-dressing performance is documented to contextualise contemporary drag as an important LGBTIQA+ performance medium. During gay liberation, drag had been a form of entertainment with a defiant socio-political ethos used for resistance, fun & survival. The question set out in the paper is: how can a theory of drag explore drag as a site of carnival to elucidate new ways of looking at sex, gender & sexual orientation? Drag is proposed as a carnivalesque performance framed as a conceptual lens viewing drag as grotesque carnival, initially theorised by Russian writer Mikhail Bakhtin, who explained carnival as having roots in pagan ritual where there is a dissolution of order, the destabilising of boundaries, and an abandonment of rules. As drag is a cross-dressing transformation simultaneously embodying the representation of both sexes, the drag persona is a form of carnivalesque mask, and this is explored as a metaphysical experience linked to ancient theatre, occult ritual, & grotesquery. For gay culture, artistic risk-taking and a radical rethinking of drag created the emergence of a grotesque aesthetic caused by a state of community grief, anxiety, and fear amid mass death from HIV/AIDS. This era also created conditions for the emergence of a queer identity, as a call to arms in the fight against HIV/AIDS and homophobia. Queer and queer theory is used in this thesis to explore a novel way of reimagining drag. A chapter is dedicated to Ballroom culture, a drag-centred movement started by LGBTIQA+ Black & Latino communities in the US. The exploration of the Carnival Drag Grotesque in this thesis will offer a deeper insight into a fascinating medium, steeped in ancient ritual & tainted with its own polemics, bringing drag to a material/mystical nexus.
See less
Date
2020Rights statement
The author retains copyright of this thesis. It may only be used for the purposes of research and study. It must not be used for any other purposes and may not be transmitted or shared with others without prior permission.Faculty/School
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sydney College of the ArtsAwarding institution
The University of SydneyShare