You know a show has been around for awhile when you can't remember if you've already written a long-form hot take on it, but either way, it's worth revisiting the cultural juggernaut/problematic fave that is RuPaul's Drag Race.
Specifically because of its latest UK season.
Now, before we start, there are a myriad of reasons you could drag, um, Drag Race lately--
- They were filming the current U.S. season at a time when we weren't even supposed to be going to the mall, let alone hosting the essential work of putting together RuSicals.
- The UK version was suspended midway through filming, and then Ru and Michelle went back at, I'm pretty sure, a time when traveling to England was not allowed.
- We have to suffer through yet another round of "The fans are bullying me on Twitter" as though being on Twitter and compulsively checking comments is a requirement for being on the show. Violet had the right idea when she said she uses the platform to post and never looks at any of the responses. 2020 may have been weird, but 2021 has me stanning Violet Chachki, so who's to say which was the stranger year?
But campers, the topic I want to touch on today is classism.
This is nothing all that new. Yvie already addressed how different it is for poor queens competing on the show versus queens with resources. For example, if you're Kameron, and you have a house you can mortgage, then chances are, you're going to have a way easier time on the runway.
The problem with most reality shows is the thing they should have the easiest time with--
Criteria.
Because most competitive programs are about some art form or another (at least the ones worth watching) and because art is subjective, it's relative easy for the judges (and producers) on the show to get rid of people for any reason they like. Even if the artist is performing well, there's always the editing room, and lately, it doesn't even seem like they care whether or not we're all aware that somebody went home because they weren't giving enough good soundbytes.
But back to the United Kingdom, and as Ru would say, "If you aren't paying four bucks a month to watch Drag Race UK on the World of Wonder app, you're only getting HALF the commercials."
Also, while I'm on this tirade, can Drag Race please get its licensing act together? VH1 airs the show exactly ONCE on the night it airs (compared to Bravo which reruns Housewives on a continuous loop all week long until a new episode airs), CBS All Access has every season but the last two, which you can find on the VH1 app, and you can't find any of the U.S. season on the World of Wonder app, which is pretty much exclusively devoted to the franchise.
Big yikes.
Anyway--
On the latest episode of the U.K. season, probably one of the best in its history, which might just be due to the accents (let's be honest), Ru has just summoned the girls back from quarantine to do the good work of completing another season so that all the contestants can proceed to not tour or perform live or do any of the things that traditionally help them benefit from making Ru and World of Wonder all its money.
There had already been chatter in the press that some of the judges were pleased that certain girls, who didn't impress with their fashion the first time around, had stepped up their game.
I was already bristling at this since runways tend to be a huge part of the show considering how much money you have prior to the competition can play a big part in how you do on the mainstage. In the past, there's been some effort to not place so much emphasis on the disparity of couture versus creativity, but when it became clear that A LOT of people watch just to be gagged at the outfits, I think the producers decided that they needed to have Ru shout "BRING IT TO THE RUNWAY" at a much higher decibel level to communicate to future contestants that if you need to sell your kidney to purchase an outfit that doubles as a working helicopter, then dammit, you better do it.
That pressure to have contestants deliver stunning looks reached a boiling point when Ru screamed at a queen for wearing an outfit from--wait for it--H&M.
In a truly Tyra-worthy moment of--"She can't come through the screen, can she?" viewer terror, Ru hollered "I don't want to see any f***ing H&M!"
So, like, set my entire closet on fire then. It's not my fault it's the only place that makes blazers for twunks, RP. And maybe I want to own a t-shirt that'll fall apart haflway through the first wash.
Ru went on a sputtering tirade about how the world is ending and so all these queens really need to bring it, because this is their big chance.
If you've ever been berated by an old queen (I do theater, so it happens once a week), you knew exactly the tone of that little speech. It's coming from someone who has been exactly where you are in terms of ability and resource, knew how hard it was, and chose to promptly forget about it as soon as they were in the clear.
Before the Meme Moment, Ru said, in total seriousness, that if one of the girls had her team they'd look great. The contestant clearly didn't know whether to make light of this, so she cracked a joke, Ru laughed, but then there was no acknowledgement that the joke was on Ru. That it was funny because Ru was being ridiculous. That anybody would look amazing if they had an entire team dedicated to making them look that way. That Ru couldn't even figure out eyeliner during the pandemic which led to her hosting the Season 12 Reunion looking like the villain from the next Aquaman movie.
I mean, what in the #$%?
Then, she moved on to yelling about everybody's favorite disposable clothing brand and how she was so disappointed that all the queens on the show hadn't spent all their time during a worldwide crisis furiously purchasing Versace dresses to bring to the show seeming to forget that--
NONE OF THEM COULD WORK FOR SEVEN MONTHS, YOU LUNATIC.
Ru and Michelle's favorite expression when they talk about what they do and don't want to see on the runway is "off the rack." They really don't want anything that looks "off the rack."
Forget that even Prada has racks. Gucci has racks. I'm sure if the queens showed up with something off those racks, they wouldn't have a problem.
And even if they did, what's the alternative?
Having designers make all your clothes for you?
A lot is made of queens going on the show not knowing how to sew, but we don't talk about the fact that learning to sew is not something you pick up after one or two tries, and, oh, by the way, every apartment does not come with a sewing machine in it already.
There is a certain element of privilege here.
Plus, if you do make your own looks, you run the risk of having someone say it's a costume.
What's the difference between a costume and literally anything McQueen ever made?
I wish I could tell you, but then again, I doubt Ru or any of her judges could either.
That's to say nothing of how they then critique how the girls wear the clothes.
One of the queens on the American version this week got high marks for a look that was absolutely gorgeous, but it wasn't the garment, it was how she was selling it, and yet, that's not how the praise was given. Instead the focus was put on the clothing, and I couldn't figure it out why.
Isn't it way more impressive to recognize a contestant for wearing a fairly simple look and elevating it?
Or would that be sending the wrong message?
Would it be communicating that you can show up in whatever you want as long as you put enough attitude behind it?
Because I really do hate pointing out problems without solutions (hahaha just kidding, I'm a nightmare), I suggested on Twitter/Lucifer's Playground that if Drag Race really thinks incredible looks make the show more fun to watch (not necessarily wrong) then they should just give the girls a stipend prior to getting on the show and force them to stick to that budget when putting together their outfits.
If you want five thousand dollar garments coming down the runway every week, why shouldn't you have to pay for it? The show still attracts millions of viewers. It makes a sizable profit considering how low production costs are overall. Surely there's enough money to give contestants so they can show up and gag everyone?
Someone on Twitter asked how ON EARTH they could do this and hold the contestants to sticking to the budget?
I then pointed out that Project Runway has been doing this for years. The money has to be used for materials only and you have to show all your receipts (something drag queens should have no problem with, right?) and yes, if you do know how to sew, you're going to be able to take that 10k a lot farther, but it'll go a long way towards significantly leveling the playing field.
And if you're saying, "But Kevin, then the queen who gets eliminated first will have shown one look and all that money will have gone to waste" then yes, I agree with you. But why should it be the queen's money and not the show's money?
How is it in any way fair that queens from places like the backwoods of Mississippi be expected to essentially bankroll a multi-million dollar, multi-country franchise?
If we really want to stress the importance of knowing how to make looks, don't let them bring anything with them, forgo all these horrible sketch and improv challenges, and just let us watch while they make outfits for whole episodes.
Spoiler Alert to Producers: That's really the only part most of us are interested in anyway.
But while they want to stress the clothing, the problem is, they also know that an ugly dress is an ugly dress, and so they need some other way to put their thumb on the scale when they want to keep someone or send someone to the bottom two.
In other words, it's a lot easier to edit footage to make someone look like they did poorly in a challenge than it is to make someone's evening gown look like a knockout when it's falling apart at the seams.
And if you're thinking--
Kevin, there are so many other things to worry about in the world.
--Then yes, you're right.
But don't forget, millions of people watch these shows.
Not just millions of people, but millions of young people, many of them queer and many of them coming from backgrounds where they need to know that if they wanted to pursue a life in the arts or the art of drag, they would have that available to them, and if that becomes one more community driven by profit and capitalism rather than creativity, we'd basically be shutting off another artistic future to those less fortunate, and look how that worked out for theaters.
I hate to place a lot of this blame at Ru's feet, but then again, she is the name above the title, and since the show is unlikely to lose ratings for at least a few more years, rambling thinkpieces might be all we have.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go see which one of my H&M button-downs survived the rinse cycle.
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