Pasadena City College Drag Show

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Recommended: Cultural diversity among students

April 17th at 7 p.m., Pasadena City College held the Fourth Annual Drag Show in Harbeson Hall. About fifteen people from the campus dressed in drag and were ready to sashay up and down the catwalk. The performers did lip-synching performances and runway shows as with other drag shows. Finger food, music, and a roomful of excited people ensured a joyful event. However, I wondered if people were actually excited because of the same reason. While I peering slowly around the crowded hall, I noticed that people of various backgrounds were intermingling. There was no way people have different social and cultural identities and perceive the drag show in the same way, but ironically all of them looked delighted. Therefore, I figured that there was more than one way to interpret the meaning of the drag show and people were attracted to the event by those different reasons. The reason people thought the Annual Drag Show was entertaining was not only because the performance was interesting, but also because it provided an opportunity to explore new things that is distinct from their day’s work, ordinary life, or their personal values. Although the outside of Harbeson Hall was calm and quiet except the noise of the traffic, the inside of the hall was a whole different world with up-tempo music. As I entered the room, I encountered an atmosphere of great excitement. The crowd was chatting and laughing endlessly regardless of the loud music, and performers were giggling expectantly rather than nervously as they waited for their turn. The participants dressed in drag with dramatic make ups did lip-sync, dance or strutted on the runway as any other drag queens, drag kings, and faux queens do in a drag show. There was nothing special about the sh... ... middle of paper ... ...hat the drag show can be interpreted from different point of view. I specifically focused on how the event could appear to everyone to be very attractive. The reason why people perceived the Annual Drag Show was entertaining is not only because the performance itself was interesting, but also because it provided unusual experiences. Escaping from the daily routine, meeting people from the minority group, breaking the group norm, and expressing one’s suppressed identity were the unusual experiences that were given by the drag show, and also those were the different ways to enjoy the event. We often do not pay much attention to how others perceive the world. Needless to say, people see the world through their own lenses and interpret the same world in different ways. The Fourth Annual Drag Show of Pasadena City College was a perfect example to examine such a tendency.

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