Dragging Questions

[kybearfuzz]

Having watched many seasons of "RuPaul's Drag Race" now, I have picked up a bit of the lingo they throw about. Mostly through the constant overuse by the queens. I have noticed a few odds and ends that seems to be overused.

• You too can talk like a drag queen strutting the runway, just fill in this blank: I'm serving ___________ realness!" I think I read on FB a comment by ericdabear) where he pointed this out too. It's cute the first few times you hear it, but every single one of them fills in the blank almost every time they romp down the runway.
  
  
• When did it become the norm for drag queens to pull their wigs off during a high energy performance? I've been to only a few drag shows in my life and I've never seen it. At least one queen who is "Lip syncing for their lives" seem to throw the wig every week. This week one of the queens did it (no spoilers for those who haven't seen it) and Santino Rice shook his head "no" after it happened. I guess I don't understand doing that because it shatters the illusion that it's a woman. You ain't serving fishy realness doing that.
  
  
• Has anyone else noticed that often the queen who seems to be getting a lot of screen time during an episode is often the one who goes home? I haven't seen it so much this season, but in past seasons the queen who was involved in the most drama or discussions in a specific episode was the one sent packing.

And now back to non-drag related life :)

Comments

[dewittar.livejournal.com]

1. Yes

2. Agreed. That sing-off was no contest this week. One Queen knew exactly what she was doing and the other did not.

3. Yes. I find that to be true in almost all the 15 reality shows I watch. Did I really just say that?

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I agree that the sing-off was no contest at all. I am not sure what she was thinking doing such a high energy dance and gestures to such a soulful song. It was an obvious mismatch and she paid for it.

You watch 15 reality shows?? Wow... This is the only one for me.

[dewittar.livejournal.com]

15 is an exaggeration but I do watch too many.

Amazing Race
RuPaul
Top Chef
Worst Cooks in America
Survivor
Big Brother
So You Think You Can Dance
The Voice
Idol

To name a few.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Reality TV in large part has escaped me for some reason. I've seen many of the shows listed and I enjoy the competition part of them, but the drama often turns me off (and yet RuPaul's Drag Race has no drama [sarcasm]).

[dewittar.livejournal.com]

...and isn't much of a competition, I dare say! LOL

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

To me, it looked like Queen 2 was Queen 1's backup dancer at a concert.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

And it was weird! I'd be curious what the queens in the back must have thought seeing Queen 1 standing still and not seeing the emotion she was pouring into it.

And Queen 2 really didn't understand the song or else she'd probably have toned it down.

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

I've only seen the show a couple of times. Interesting for occasional viewing ... tho you must have the patience of Job ;0)

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I think I admire the creativity of drag. I've never had any desire to try it myself outside of the odd Halloween costume, but I can see that there is an art to it. There are those drag queens that seem to look like every other drag queen, but some, like Sharon Needles, make it new and interesting with her "Queen of Shock" attitude.

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

Wow! ... I just did Google Images to look up Ms. Needles. She's amazing!....it's what I call 'theatre'.
Incidentally, among all the drag pictures there popped up a closeup of Grover Norquist (Republican puppet master) - proof that Google is sublime in its incomprehensibility - LOL

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

She's got some talent, our girl Sharon Needles! I look forward to see her to the end and beyond.

I'm sure Grover and Sharon have little in common, believe me :D

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

...but it might be very interesting to see them in the same room together ;0)

[circusfolk.livejournal.com]

I will admit that RuPaul's Drag Race is my guilty pleasure every Monday night on the DVR while entering paperwork.

Like most reality shows by the time they get down to the top three or four the overused lines are very noticeable.

I like a comment from one of the queens earlier in the season about someone being a Pointer Sister. she justs stands there and points!. I thought it was hilarious.

I am sorry for RuPaul that she hasn't been able to produce another hit song like from season one.

Lady Bunny pops up on Derek and Romaine Tuesdays. They have a radio program on XM OutQ 108. Lady Bunny tears into the show. I also think that the weekly castoff also does a phone in Tuesday nights.

People can say what they want but "that" RuPaul has made quite a little cottage industry from her show.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

"A Pointer Sister" was a great comment! I loved that.

I'm not sure if her songs are hits, but I have "Champion" and a few others on my iPod that I enjoy.

What does Lady Bunny say about the show? Or is she tearing into the queens themselves? I read Pandora Boxx's recaps of the show on NewNowNext and they are pretty entertaining, coming from someone who went through the race herself.

"I'm not sure if her songs are hits..."

[notmypresident.livejournal.com]

From Billboard, the music industry bible:

"RuPaul first strutted onto the Billboard charts on Dec. 12, 1992, when Ru's likely most-well-known single "Supermodel (You Better Work)" debuted at No. 46 on the Dance Club Songs chart, on its way to a No. 2 peak. It was the first of so-far 13 club hits for the entertainer."

Though she doesn't seem to move a lot of actual units, RuPaul seems to do fairly well on the charts (which is kind of important even if it doesn't swell one's bank account). "Glamazon" debuted at #11 on the dance chart, her highest debut to date.

[thespisgeoff.livejournal.com]

Taking the wig off at the end of a performance used to be a drag staple - back in the days of "female impersonators." See Victor/Victoria for a good example of this; the idea is that you're shocking the audience by revealing that you're actually *not* woman.

Its history on Drag Race comes from when a contestant in...Season Two, I think, had a Wig Malfunction during her LSFYL and instead of worrying about it, just ripped that wig off her head and kept going. She was saved that week. Queens who saw that and thought the wig-rip was helpful have incorporated it into their own performances, with girls like Milan taking it even further and fully stripping during their frantic lipsyncs. The editing of this week's LSFYL appears to point to the death of the wig-rip, though, which is gratifying.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Ah, I do remember that scene in "Victor/Victoria" but didn't make the connection.

I do remember Shannel having her Medusa headpiece fall off during her LSFYL moment and I think it saved her @$$. Milan was something of a mess. I enjoyed her dancing, but every LSFYL performance had the wig coming off and the more she stripped, the more it was obvious it was a man. It became her downfall.

And I do hope the wig-rip is over. I think even Phi Phi did it a couple of episode back and I thought "you really need to keep the wig, because you look like a dude without it."

Oh, All-Knowing One...

[notmypresident.livejournal.com]

Seeing as how this is my first season of RDR, I'm unclear on an aspect of the show that you might be able to help with: whether the contestants actually create their own outfits.

In one of this season's shows, one diva was asked "You didn't sew that, did you?" and the response was "No." But I could have sworn that one queen admitted in a recent show that she did make her dress.

What's up with that?

Re: Oh, All-Knowing One...

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I think it's something of a mix. In some challenges, they are forced to make their outfits out of odd materials or whatever they can find in a place, etc. This season, I think they did that for the first challenge, the "RuPocalypse." In those types of challenges, they do make their outfits.

In the rest of them, I believe that they use whatever outfits and materials they brought with them. In multiple episodes this season, I've seen a few items get used over and over by the queens (Latrice was chastised for using her boots over and over in one critique). In some cases they may not have made the outfit (they brought it, bought it, or had someone make it before), in other cases they may have if they can sew at all.

Past seasons, and even a bit in this season, have shown that being unskilled in sewing was viewed as a weakness.

Re: Oh, All-Knowing One...

[notmypresident.livejournal.com]

Past seasons, and even a bit in this season, have shown that being unskilled in sewing was viewed as a weakness.

Sweet Jeebus, that lets me out. I can't even sew a button on a shirt!

Thanks for the explanation, which makes sense. I knew there was no way those queens could have come up with so many of those dresses in one or two days.

[prisoncitybear.livejournal.com]

My I call you Fuzzy?

I had often wondered: could Project Runway get any gayer?
Bam!
RPDR shows up and says: Gurl yes!
I adore it.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Why yes you may!

I admit that I got burned out on Project Runway last season, so I've not been following the most recent season.

And RPDR is like a drug, I have to watch it. They truly serve over-the-top gayness!

And just where have you been keeping yourself, furry bear? I've not seen you on here much lately.

[prisoncitybear.livejournal.com]

Ugh, stuff to post, I will get on it.
**Whip crack**

[prisoncitybear.livejournal.com]

And, regarding this week's show, the lipsync was NO contest. It was true Aretha-realness.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

I think the queen who was eliminated thought she was throwing out all the stops (though I don't recall her doing the splits), but she really miscalculated the mood and emotion of the song with all her flopping and dancing about.

The queen who stayed knew exactly what she was doing and it was amazing!