There are few reality television shows that represent males that perform in drag. RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) is probably the only one. RPDR is an American reality competition show that premiered in February of 2009. When it first started many could have viewed it as a “cheap knockoff of America’s Next Top Model,” a show which had started six years ago (Lambe). Only 3.6% of people on television are gay, so imagine how little of that percentage are drag queens (Kidd). The show is now the highest-rated show on Logo TV. I want to argue that RuPaul’s Drag Race trains its audience by educating them on the acceptance of drag culture exhibited in the show and exposes them to the diversity in drag culture that can impact their views of how they …show more content…
In the clip “Season 8 Official Promo” the viewers see that the girls know about glamor and are not trying to hide how much money they are spending.
Citizenship is theorized as a constant pull between the “selfish demands of the consumer economy and the selfless requirements of the political order” (Ouellette, p.69). This is applied to RPDR because the show educates and trains the viewers to be accepting of drag culture. I can be hard to relate to people unless you have a direct connection to them. It can be hard to understand drag culture until you are taken behind the scenes and get to know the actual contests outside of their runway shows. In the “Adore as a Musician clip,” we see that even though they are competing against each other, all of them are still friends and support each other. They call each other talented and even talk about respecting each other in drag. In the “Game On!” clip we see them just after they got critiqued by the judges, but they all ban together ad call each other talented. Drag queens have a reputation of being petty and fake, but RPDR proves that this is just a stereotype. This clip shows how genuine they really are on the show and how they come to each other sides. With the cameras going backstage and showing the viewers conversations they would not hear otherwise, they get to build relationships with the
This paper explores the Movie “It’s Complicated” a 2009 romantic comedy film, based of the novel written by Nancy Meyers. In this movie Jane and Jake Adler are a divorced couple of ten years. They start a secret love affair in New York, at their son’s graduation. While Jake is trying to have a family with his much younger wife, Agnes. I will be looking at if this is a possible mid-life crisis, genetics, or if it a developmental issue of Jake for wanting to be with his first wife, Jane.
In the words of RuPaul, one of the most well known drag queens in todays times, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love someone else.” Since the 1500s, men can be seen dressing up as women for entertainment and comedic effect, but since then drag has evolved from just grand performances to a symbol for acceptance and individuality. Recently, drag has been dissected and looked at under a microscope by those who only see what is on the sparkly surface. What has been found is that drag culture is much more that its initial appearance, but that there is an entire set of values that define what drag truly is, one of which, and probably the most popular, is being confident in ones identity. Being able to take on an alter
The film Boyz n the Hood, is about a group of friend who grew up in the same neighbour hood, but were raised in different way because of the beliefs of their parents. Tre lived with his father who thought him to do the right thing and what it means to be a man, while Ricky and Doughboy who are brothers a raised by their mother in a home where there is little to no structure. Ricky and Doughboy grew up in a home where their mother openly favor one son over the other due to the fact that one boy showed more potential then the other. After watching Boyz N the Hood” there is a clear understand that in any family there are internal and external factors that can effect any person. In this movie you learn that the people you are closest with or call your family may not be blood related to you. After spending a significant amount of time together Tre, Doughboy and Ricky became a family outside of their own families. Internal factors that had an effect on the lives of the young boys in the movie include the parenting style, communication skills and assignment of roles. External factors that were seen in the film include family structures, systemic issues of classism and racism, circumstances and environmental circumstances.
The pivotal scene that will be thoroughly represented and analyzed is from the movie 8 Mile, directed by Curtis Hanson, and released in 2002. 8 Mile is a semiautobiographical film based on the life story of the iconic rapper Marshal Mathers, or better known by his stage name Eminem, and how he began his journey into the hip-hop industry. In this film, Eminem plays himself, as the main character named Jimmy Smith Jr.; however, throughout the course of the movie, he is referred to as Rabbit more than anything else. Rabbit lives in a very rough part of Detroit known as 8 Mile, in a mobile home with his single alcoholic of a mother. Their financial situation is dire and Rabbit decides he needs to find a different occupation. Rabbit works at a factory to barely make ends meet; however, the amount he makes is abysmal compared to what he needs. Rabbit has a passion for music, specifically rap. However, this is a challenge because at the time the rap genre was predominantly occupied by African-Americans. Despite this, Rabbit continues on in his pursuit of making a name for himself in the rap industry. He enters rap battle competitions in hopes of getting noticed. He runs into a group of local amateur rappers known as “Leadaz of tha Free World”. The leader of this group is named Papa Doc and he is portrayed to be Rabbits greatest adversary. Rabbit and Papa Doc both make it to the final round of the rap battle competition and that’s when the pivotal scene
On the same cable networks that act as the home for gay and lesbian television series, America finds its new woman for the new millenium: she’s smart, independent, gainfully employed, sexually confident, and, usually, she’s single. Television finally has room for a woman to fly on her own, without her minivan, Cub Scout den-mother meetings, or workaholic husband to feed and clean up after. The prime example for TV’s new “wonder woman,” is found in the four women of HBO’s Emmy Award winning series, “Sex & The City.” These
“Cold, shiny, hard, plastic.”, one of the most popular quotes from the movie, Mean Girls. Mean Girls is a teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and screenplay by Tina Fey. This film is loosely based on a book called “Queen Bees and Wannabees” by Rosalind Wiseman which is a self-help book that describes all of the cliques in high school and how they can have a huge effect on girls. But the movie itself is about the sociopolitical climate of the average American “high school”. The movie was made in 2004 and set in Evanston, Illinois, but the film was shot in Toronto, Canada. The film stars Lindsey Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and many more comedic actors and actresses. I chose to do an analysis on the movie, Mean Girls, because I wanted to see if people would agree with my perspective, which is that this movie does correctly show the real life mean girl situations and how girls can overcome the popularity contests.
Music is part of everyday life and serves as the center of many cultures across the world. Music brings out the best parts of a movie, a car ride, or even a special event. The purpose of music varies from artist to artist and different cultures. Every piece of music carries a unique message, but a song, in particular, carries meaning. “Runaway Love” by Ludacris, featuring Mary J. Blige, exploits the struggles of young girls by using rhetorical techniques, such as pathos, ethos, logos, tone, and visual rhetoric throughout the music video to raise national awareness about youth runaways.
Reality programs have dominated television networks since their rise in popularity began in the early 1990s with MTV’s The Real World. The reality genre quickly gained viewership as it redefined the formulaic set up of televisions shows from the past. Reality television has infiltrated television because networks prefer low budgets for their programs that also generate high ratings (Hasinoff, 2008). People watch reality shows because they are intrigued by the seemingly “real” drama with ordinary people as characters (Dubrofsky, 2006). Now at its peak of growth, reality television evokes ideas of social order and cultural norms to its audiences, while perpetuating racial stereotypes in society (Mendible, 2004). My purpose of the review of
In the comic series, Modern Family, the show depicts the lives of three families including interracial, homosexual and heterosexual families who all come together at the end of the day because of their love for one another despite their differences. Although the families are quite contrary views on various topics, the show successfully intertwines their lives allowing viewers to obtain a new perspective of family life from the show character’s point of view. In Jennifer Posner's excerpt, “Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls and Cha Cha Divas,” Posner explores how the media in particular the reality TV show, America’s Next Top Model, perpetuates stereotypes that are dangerous to well being of society. However, Posner’s reasoning fails to take into account the positive change
Run Lola Run presents the idea that although events that occur in life seem random and inconsequential, the choices we make have significant effects on ourselves and our surroundings in the future. Tykwer successfully intertwines chance in each run, prompting Lola to face various outcomes. Chance is reinforced through still photographs of the characters Lola encounters on her journey to get 100,000 marks. The photographs provide the audience a glimpse of what their future could become as a result of their interaction with Lola. Fast non-diegetic sound of the camera clicks, enables the audience to feel a sense of urgency, reflecting the idea of chance and that our choices and actions are all linked with the people we encounter.
Picture this, waking up every morning to a new issue to face, but not completely finishing the ones from yesterday or last week. Imagine being overburdened with stress, low income, neglect, needs and wants, death and heartbreak, but still having to function to survive for your loved ones. The film, “For Colored Girls”, directed by Tyler Perry in 2010, narrates the lives of the everyday struggles of several black women in Harlem, New York. Their lives connect together by the different hardships they face from not only, being a woman of color, but a being woman in general. Tory Floyd’s Interpersonal Communication textbook, copy written in 2009, teaches communication concepts and how they affect personal, academic, and professional relationships. The specific communication concepts seen throughout this movie are the need to belong, profanity, slander, the power and control aspect of haptics, sadness, denial, empathic listening and closeness.
My basic understanding of drag and gender in entertainment started my freshman year of high school. The first time I was exposed to drag was watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon. I will never forget dancing to the Time Warp with my mom and experiencing unorthodox gender norms for the first time. It was not until my first year of college when I started to learn more about drag. During the spring semester of my freshman year, my friend and I would watch RuPaul’s Drag Race in her apartment waiting to go to class. When we watched RuPaul, we did not just watch the current season, we would be watching as many seasons as possible, so I would be able to catch up and know all of the popular Queens. The first Queen that I fell in love with on RuPaul’s was Raven, the runner up from season two, or as I like to say, the real winner of season two. The more I started getting into the show, my desire to see the Queens in person grew.
Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998) is truly a brilliant film. It is very seldom that a film manages to combine the high pace of an action thriller and a deep philosophical subtext without botching it, but Run Lola Run does an excellent job at striking a balance between both. Tackling the very abstract and philosophical concepts of chance and cause-effect, Run Lola Run is truly a modern foreign classic. Tykwer manages to postulate one simple theory through the film, that the simplest of choices can completely change everything. The film is supported by stellar performances from Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu as the protagonist Lola and her boyfriend, Manni. The film’s use of cinematography to add to the narrative, clever use of the aspects of mise-en-scene and explosively-paced soundtrack add a whole new dimension to this film. One of the few German films to be both a critical and commercial success, Run Lola Run is a smart and stimulating film, which demands active watching in order to understand fully. I will now analyze the film comprehensively using three main parameters; the mise-en-scene, the cinematography and the sound.
The education system has always been one to push students to absolute perfection, but at what costs do these measures become harmful, taxing and impractical? The film Race to Nowhere explores this concept and examines the pressures society has placed on students to fit this “one size fits all” definition of success. By presenting heart-wrenching stories of students who have suffered greatly from this “silent epidemic”, Race to Nowhere reveals to many an education system plagued by stress, depression, cheating, eating disorders, and sleep deprivation. An education system where there is emphasis on study to get the “A” instead of studying to truly retain the information. And lastly an education system where students aren’t truly learning. Through the use of visual elements, expert testimonials, and personal anecdotes Race to Nowhere is able to captivate viewers’ hearts, and cause them to redefine the true meaning of “success”.
Finding fulfillment in life requires people to truly understand their reality and is only achieved through an effort to grow out of one’s comfort zone. This idea is explored in the film Sing Street, directed by Jim Carney. The film follows the journey of Conor Lawlor, a shy schoolboy who gets moved from a private school into a strict Catholic school due to his parent’s financial situation. At Syng Street he is bullied by another student and his principle. A turning point occurs when he falls in love with a mysterious girl. After a desperate attempt to gain her phone number, he starts a band with a group of outcasts from his school. Throughout the film, Carney suggests the idea that to fulfill one’s happiness, a person needs to make an effort to take a risk and push beyond their comfort zone, and while doing so they also need to gain a sense of confidence in their identity. It is necessary to grow beyond hindering beliefs to achieve a new perspective on life to lead to happiness.