Exacerbate, play, amplify, denounce… This is the goal of drag in performing a gender: feminine drag queen, masculine drag king, non-binary or fluid drag queer. These artists present themselves as sentinels of the taboos of our societies, and offer a satirical reading of our cultures. We decipher this phenomenon, revealed by the success of the show Drag Racewhose season 3 begins this Friday, May 31 on France 2 .
This brought the art of drag from obscure bars to the living rooms of ordinary people. This reality show pits drag queens against each other through singing, dancing, comedy and sewing events. Created in 2009 by RuPaul Charles, it immediately met with unexpected success, becoming an international audiovisual empire.
A popular queer wave in short. But not only. With the success of the franchise, certain glass ceilings in this hitherto marginal environment are exploding while others are solidifying. Because drag is, above all else, a story.
At the origins of drag: theater
The art of drag has been around for a long time. Its contemporary form is the result of a history fraught with discrimination, exclusion and violence. Although it is universal, as shown by Nicky Doll on her show Nicky’s travels broadcast on France 5the history of drag took off in the United States in the 1960s.
It is for this reason that the lexicon of this art is mainly English-speaking. You just have to listen to a drag show to realize this: pageant, ballroom, voguing, house, slay, lipsyncbut also simply drag, queen, king, club kid And queer (1).
But before its democratization, drag took root in the theater. Since ancient times, men have played women’s roles. The same thing happened in the 17th century, in Shakespearean theater. At that time, when the Church was omnipresent, to remain in decency and avoid all temptation, heterosexual couples had to be represented by two men.
The etymology of the word “drag”, difficult to…
