RuPaul and his drag race: is the transformation of a distinctive art form into a mainstream money factory irreversible?
It was 1990, and the world got a glimpse into the authentic environment of the so-called "ball culture" thanks to the famous documentary Paris Is Burning, which portrays this underground subculture as a community of mainly poor and socially excluded young African-Americans and Latinos whose movement emerged as a natural reaction to frustration with their own identity. This stems not only from dissatisfaction with their current living conditions, but also from a desire for something better - for members of the aforementioned minorities often lived in close proximity to luxuries that they knew would probably be forbidden to them forever. This is why a new culture emerged, desperate to at least imitate the unavailable wealth, or sometimes even to physically alienate it. At the same time, typical elements were born that gradually began to penetrate far beyond the boundaries of the "culture of the balls" over the following years: Experimentation with gender, led by so-called "realness", i.e. the most believable external imitation of a certain social class by means of costumes, singing to playback or dancing, known as voguing, which referred to the poses of the models on the covers of Vogue magazine and can also be seen in Madonna's music video for her song Vogue.
The big break came three years later. In 1993, despite the firm musical dominance of the dark grunge genre, the music video for Supermodel (You Better Work) by the then established African-American drag performer RuPaul scored a hit on MTV. He began building a successful career in his scene in the late 80s and early 90s in New York's drag and gay bars. The catchy dance hit and the video, in which RuPaul convincingly performs as a fashion icon, are essential for several reasons. Not only did it open doors for the performer in both the music and modeling worlds, it transformed him into a full-fledged mainstream celebrity. In fact, the supermodel reflects RuPaul's star persona, which since 2009 has set the tone for not only the reality show RuPaul's Drag Race, but essentially the entire contemporary drag culture.
Already in Supermodel, RuPaul proves that he is not abandoning the legacy of the drag subculture, but trying to present it in a slightly different way. The crossdressing of men wearing women's clothes has been taken as a purely comic element in many films, especially from earlier years. But RuPaul always has a confident delivery and in the video he works with a vision of a world in which men styled as women is not uncommon. A key aspect that is also reflected in RuPaul's reality show is the strong emphasis on hard work discipline. RuPaul places extremely high demands on the contestants who sign up for Drag Race. Although candidates are far from certain to participate, they are expected to be serious and to perform to their absolute best - especially when it comes to sophistication and originality of aesthetic.
Of course, the drag queens work on their costumes themselves and also invest not only a lot of time, but above all money in their preparation. The amounts that drag queens spend from their savings are often in the thousands of dollars - usually from 3,000 dollars to some 20,000 dollars (converted to a range of 66,000 - 440,000 CZK). According to the contestants themselves, this is often more than they have ever paid for tuition fees, which, especially in America, are not cheap. Yet many of the participants still have deep pockets, often come from broken homes and have struggled not only with identity crises but also with drug addiction.
Part of the community blames RuPaul for stripping drag of its dimension of a relaxed and fun game that seeks free self-expression first and foremost, and instead introducing a ruthless professionalism. On the one hand, there is undoubtedly something to this point of view. But on the other hand, it is hardly surprising that popularisation inevitably involves a certain commercialisation. RuPaul has earned the moniker of the world's most famous drag queen, so it's no surprise that his fortune is estimated at around $60 million. In 2013, each episode of Drag Race was expected to earn him around $50,000, or about $1,100,000. "Personally, I'm an opportunist(k) and I like to show off, so I knew show business would be for me. But I remain open to everything," admits RuPaul.
However, even though most of the money goes rightfully to RuPaul, one cannot ignore the fact that his reality show has given the drag scene a significant economic "kick". While RuPaul continues to be the driving force - his Drag Race as a successful brand is also associated with the annual DragCon, a mobile app, a video game, books, and various items (from clothing to stationery to makeup) - without RuPaul, awareness of drag might have been hard to spread as much. The reality show Drag Race has seen various foreign mutations, and it has also spawned many new up-and-coming drag queens who have been given many otherwise perhaps unthinkable opportunities.
Everyone hopes that the new faces of drag will carry on the original idea and tradition. However, even this kind of performance art, although very timeless, has to move with the times and adapt to it to some extent. It's the only way it can live on glamourously, and while we'll probably have to wait for a drag queen as a weathercaster or TV presenter, the fact that such possibilities have emerged on RuPaul's Drag Race is already a step forward. And maybe even to their future realization. After all, at least with RuPaul's, anything is possible. To his credit, seemingly incompatible worlds are slowly merging, because as RuPaul himself says, " I don't fit into any box, none of them would be quite right."
