Drag: The Media's Perception Of Drag

I.

Introduction

“I always say “we’re born naked and the rest is drag.” Any performer who puts on an outfit to project an image is in drag. Everything you put on is to fit a preconceived notion of how you wanna be seen. It’s all drag. Mine is just more glamorous‟ (RuPaul, Baker 1994:258).

In this research paper I will examine pop icon Lady Gaga’s portrayal of her alter ego 'Jo Calderone' as s/he displays drag as a critical intervention into the media’s claims of the real. Through her status as a pop icon, she intentionally involves with and satirises conventional ideas about what is ‘proper’ in terms of gender norms with her portrayal of drag, namely, her alter ego – Jo Calderone.

This includes the dissection of masculinity and femininity

Judith Butler’s theoretical understandings have described drag to a larger extent and clarified it more commonly. She states that the way in which we dress and present ourselves, in terms of behaviourally and aesthetically hold particularly gendered semiotics that create a specific ‘identity’ due to collectively ‘conventional’ signs that resemble with each sex. These contrasting definitions allow for a more thorough investigation of drag in relation to the performative and performativity, an investigation that leads away from its common associations and investigates the claim that “It’s all

We do this by examining the means of entertainment through performance. In a more commonly known sense, a classified drag performance is made up of a performer clothed in a costume that is visually representative of the opposing gender of that of the performer. Allowing hair and make up to coincide with that of the chosen gender. All features of this costume are ‘usually’ exaggerated to accentuate the feminine or masculine given trait intended by the costume. It is also accentuated through the behavioural characteristics exhibited by the performer. Thus novelty is created through the apposition of semiotics and signs. In saying so, we believe that the audience is aware of the biological gender the performer exhibits – he is a male; yet this gendering is confused by the female-gendered signs portrayed through the costume, make up, hair and behavioural characteristics. It is this novelty that consents for drag, in this sense, to be a form of entertainment. This is because the idea of the socially/culturally accepted norm is challenged, making this fascinating to