Where Did the Drag Queens Go?

I haven't had the opportunity to read the Queer Cinema Blog-a-Thon yet but I feel confident in assuming that many posts will bemoan the dearth of important and quality GLBT filmmaking these days. Gone are the heady days of early auteur work from Haynes, Araki, Kalin, Van Sant and genderbending masterpieces like Orlando and Paris is Burning. The 90s are looking more and more like the golden age of GLBT cinema. I recently found myself in Blockbuster searching for a movie they did not have (Maurice if you want to know) --the gay films I did notice on the shelf were all checked out (some things haven't changed) but I wouldn't have rented them anyway. The titles escape me but there was an alarming number of comedies about gay boys wanting straight boys. That still has appeal? My how little we've progressed. It was such a prevalent theme on the DVD cases that I began to suspect that my neighborhood was a DL hotbed (very possible) or that this is merely the type of straight to DVD gay movie being made (also possible). Muscle boys and dumb comedies galore... but where were the dramas? where were the outré offerings. Where were the drag queens? Seriously, where'd they go?

John Travolta in Hairspray does not count. Nor does Eddie Murphy in Norbit. Nor does Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There.


I came home suddenly desperate for wigs and heels and watched The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for the first time in years. I remembered the great Terence Stamp performance, the astounding costumes (all that on a $15,000 costume budget??? I still can't believe it) and the ABBA jokes. I had forgotten the sheer quality of the movie itself. It's just a fine film: beautifully shot, very funny, well acted, well paced, moving and technically assured -- never mind the drag, never mind the queerness... though it must be applauded for that, too. For you see Priscilla is truly queer, not some neutered asexual thing like its American imitation To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar.

Mitzi (Hugo Weaving), Felicia (Guy Pearce) and Bernadette (Terence Stamp) are remarkably well drawn. They have more than one character trait, more than one motivation for their actions and each one of them refuses to be merely a vehicle for your amusement: they're funny, sure, but they have insufferable qualities too. They'll make you laugh but while you're giggling you're forced to confront their loneliness, their sexuality and their coping mechanisms (both healthy and un).


I always enjoyed the movie but seeing it again made me miss both early 90s queer cinema and that other short-lived lively burst of filmmaking: exportable Australian comedy -- Americans loved those for about 4 years. I hadn't seen The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in a long time and I was stunned watching it to remember its success: Adjusted for inflation Priscilla took in a healthy $17 million and won a freaking Oscar. It was as successful as its sort-of straight peers (Muriel's Wedding and Strictly Ballroom) as much of a limited release hit as recent queer-friendly classics like Far From Heaven and Y Tu Mama Tambien, more successful than recent hit foreign imports like The Lives of Others, La Vie En Rose. That's quite an achievement for a bawdy 'we're here, we're queer, get used to it' sort of comedy.

If you look at the most successful gay themed films ever released, Priscilla still seems impressively queer. (I've taken this list from Box Office Mojo's adjusted for inflation pages -but I've discarded films that I don't think belong there like Interview with a Vampire and Frida, which would've been in #2 and #19 spots)

01 The Birdcage (96)
02 Philadephia (93)
03 The Talented Mr Ripley (99)
04 The Crying Game (92)
05 In & Out (97)
06 Brokeback Mountain (05)
07 Victor/Victoria (82)
08 To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar (95)
09 La Cage Aux Folles (79)
10 Cruising (80)


11 The Hours (02)
12 The Object of My Affection (98)
13 Monster (03)
14 Alexander (04)
15 Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil (97)
16 Rent (05)
17 Capote (05)
18 Making Love (82)
19 Threesome (94)
20 The Next Best Thing (00)
21 Far From Heaven (02)
22 The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (94)
23 Chasing Amy (97)
24 La Cage Aux Folles 2 ()
25 Y Tu Mama Tambien (02)
26 Boys Don't Cry (99)
27 Partners (82)
28 Personal Best (82)
29 The Hunger (83)
30 The Wedding Banquet (93)

The recent success of Far From Heaven, The Hours and Brokeback Mountain gives me hope for the gay drama to enter a new silver age... but gay comedies? The hits are depressingly unqueer in personality and politics, the no-budget affairs are just plain terrible (Eating Out, Another Gay Movie, etc...) The gay comedy needs a makeover something fierce. Wo-Man, does it need Mitzi, Felicia and Bernadette! Queer comedy is on the rocks because it's missing its cocks in frocks.