Drag Race: "Divine" John Waters Inspiration
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at 10:00AM
Manuel here to talk about that wonderful Drag Race episode this week which was dedicated to, as Ru called him, “the Sultan of Sleaze, the Baron of Bad Taste,” Mr John Waters! Seeing RuPaul and legendary auteur John Waters together judging drag queens on their “ugly dresses” was many a gay cinephile’s wet dream.
How does she manage to look this AMAZING every week?
John Waters: She was not afraid to play not glamorous. A lot of drag queens I know, they’re afraid to do that.
RuPaul: You were looking at me when you said that!
And, can you blame him?
RuPaul, the drag superstar par excellence is glamor (or, her latest incarnation is, as “No RuPaulogies” taught us back in season 5). Even when she camps it up (look at that dress!) she is glamor incarnate. Now in its seventh season, RuPaul’s Drag Race has, for better or for worse, created a seemingly new kind of drag, one that insists on glamor above all else (or in addition to everything else): how many times have we heard Santino, Michelle Visage, Ru herself or any of the rotating cast of guest judges complaining that a certain girl’s look wasn’t “couture enough," "not high fashion" or that “it didn’t look polished enough”? Even when challenges call for camp, humor, and/or stylized aesthetics, glamor has remained the requirement on the runway. It’s not for nothing Ru has coined the term Glamazon to refer to her queens.
He'll give you filth, not glamor.
In an episode wholly dedicated to the highs of low of drag, the queens were tasked with creating screen tests for musical reinventions of famed John Waters/Divine scenes. Asking her queens to dive headfirst into this hysterically sullied territory (“And remember: fuck it up!”) was a stroke of genius for it not only paid great homage to a type of drag that Ru and the producers have seldom prized, but it put in stark relief (as John Waters himself put it in Untucked when saying hello to the girls) how insane it is to see a television show nonchalantly riff on those old movies that scandalized and titillated select audiences so many decades ago.
We’ll skip the Library though not before sharing my favorite read of the night:
“Violet Chachki, you keep training those corsets, girl, pretty soon your waist size will be lower than your IQ.”
But let’s look at how the queens did this week:
Kennedy Davenport & Katya in Cha Cha Heels
"Nice girls don't wear cha-cha heels!"
This scene from Female Trouble (1974) which pit Divine’s increasingly deranged anger (“I said I wanted black cha cha heels!”!) against the measured calls for calm of her parents turned into a madcap escalation on Drag Race and the energy almost burst from the screen. Finding new ways of contorting her body for a laugh, Katya took, as Michelle noted, this “nothing role” and turned it into something “meaty and substantial.” Never have choreographed flailing legs made me laugh so hard. And props to Kennedy for turning Dawn Davenport into an angry mash-potato dancer. Sure, costume-wise she read more like Motormouth Maybelle than Divine, but the frantic rawness of Divine’s Dawn was there.
Ginger Minj & Trixie Mattel in Eggs
"Hasn't that eggman come yet?"
You gotta hand it to Ginger & Trixie, they both had the look down (a bit glittery in Trixie’s case, but that’s to be expected by now). In Pink Flamingos, the scene has remained fascinating these many years later for the matter-of-fact tone with which it presents its bizarre setup (Edie is Divine’s mother, sleeps in a pen and yearns for eggs “sunny side up because it’s sunny outside”). Ginger, never one to let a laugh get away from her, totally slayed. She drowned out Trixie who was competent but was left playing second fiddle to Ginger’s performance which so carefully balanced the biting sweetness of Massey’s Edie.
Violet Chachki, Miss Fame & Pearl in Poo!
"Well, you think you know somebody filthier?"
What. A. Mess. Right? It’s a tall order to be asked to recreate Divine’s infamous scene from Pink Flamingos (1972). It’s another to do it while singing to a not particularly inspired song (I mean, “Don’t play with doo doo, don’t play with poo!”?) But then, these three queens have made it very clear they’re not performers. They may be able to work it on the runway (see last week’s conjoined twin performance from Pearl or Violet’s death-by-corset walk from a weeks back) but put them in a group in front of a camera and they clam up. And so, try as they might, they could never work together, letting their personal aspersions seep through their performances. Kudos to Violet who, awkward pregnant padding aside, looked like funhouse mirror version of Divine.
Unsurprisingly, it was the three of them who found themselves at the bottom two with ultimately the episode’s core drama (Pearl vs Miss Fame) getting replicated in the lipsync which found the latter leaving the competition. It is perhaps a tad too perfect that Miss Fame, the epitome of an earnest drag queen, would leave the competition on a John Waters/camp challenge. Spouting platitudes that read as sincere yet hollow, she always struck me as a fascinating queen whose depth only ever read as depthlessness. Does that make sense? Katya’s tweet from a few weeks back remains a grade A example of a subtle read.
Only John Waters can state "You need ugly lessons" and make you feel like you've been read.
Oh, and what to say of these “ugly dresses”? My favorite was Katya’s who is definitely at the top of my list for MVP this season. For my money, it’ll be a fight between the two queens that make Untucked such a hilarious mess. Confession: I would watch all the footage of Ginger and Katya’s smoking breaks. They’re the one thing I think the new "Untucked" format allows, a look at the queens pretty much just chilling without the all-so-contrived Gold/Interior Illusions games/ploys to get the queens to catfight for the camera.
Have you been watching this season? Which queen are you rooting for and do you think the right queen went home this week?
Reader Comments (12)
I'm behind a couple of eps....Max is my fav. I think Fame and Violet have possibilities but need guidance (experience).
I'm behind a couple of eps....Max is my fav. I think Fame and Violet have possibilities but need guidance (experience). I also liked Mrs. Kasha Davis. I felt she understood the medium better than most. I expect Ginger to win. Or Pearl (a true original).
katya was [and continues to be] robbed!
Oh man, oh man, this was the best Drag Race in ages. The "maxi-challenges" this season have been pretty great, but oh my god when they announced the theme this week I just about fainted. It was perfect!!
I agree that Katya is outstanding-- I do have a hard time deciding between her and Ginger as my favorite. Katya's reactions to the reads were so adorable! And Ginger helps make up for the personality void some of the queens *cough FAME* have been serving.
and LOL @ "you need ugly lessons" being a read when coming from John Waters-- my exact thought during the episode!
Great recap Manuel :)
This week and last week's episodes are definitely season (and series) greats. Katya is everything and then some; not only is she practically this season's hilarious narrator, her weekly Youtube videos make me actually LOL. To me she's getting an edit totally akin to Alaska, but she's the most social media savvy and as of last year that (allegedly) has something to do with who wins. Whoever's in charge of editing Untucked vs. the actually show must be in totally different buildings, cities, planets when it comes to Ginger; on the show she comes across as the one to beat but Untucked on the other hand is a complete villain painting. I'm interested to see what shakes down there.
After last week's surprising "reunion" and this awesome John Waters episode, season 7 has finally figured out how to beat its face.
This week was the first time Katya really slayed a challenge; she's been funnier in her backstage interviews than she has been in performance. The season has been Ginger's to lose pretty much from the start. She rarely stumbles. (Though I agree with Olivia -- Ginger comes off as competitive, shady and a sore loser on Untucked.)
Don't underestimate Kennedy, who seems to have Ru in her corner. Or for that matter, Violet, who is the only queen this season consistently sickening on the runway.
I hate this season. The only worthy queen is Katya. Check out her Youtube videos, they are hysterical.
I don't understand people who don't like Ginger in Untucked. Not only is she funny, it's a drag queen competition and shade is the name of the game. I feel like the people who complain about it aren't really initiated in Drag Race or, well, drag. Ginger has dominated since the beginning, really. Katya is also top two.
I've decided that what this season lacks are more seasoned queens who can bring the cultural knowledge, smarts and experience that makes the show spark. We got heavily loaded on pretty and superficially interesting this season.
I think season 6 was just so strong that it was really hard to follow up, but this season is just.... underwhelming. This is the first time I don't feel passionate about any of the girls winning. Well, except Katya. She's the best hands down. Ginger is super talented, but comes across as a sore loser/huge conceited bitch in Untucked. Like, really unlikeable. I understand being a little shady or disappointed with some things, but she straight up has her head up her ass most of the time. As someone else said, it really doesn't make any sense in editing because on the show she seems like the winner and Untucked paints her as a huge bitch (and the bitch never wins).
I think Kennedy Davenport is the most unfairly favored queen on the show in a long time. She's good, but she's not THAT good. Give me a break. And she's a bitch too.
I'm over Pearl...liked her in the beginning, but she was the worst overall for me last week. Her dress wasn't remotely ugly on any planet, she was the worst in the videos in my opinion (the least committed/sure of herself by far), and her lip sync was awful...same thing she did in her last lip sync. Fame deserved to go, though...but she has a great heart and I feel like they edited her unfairly on the show.
Violet is just kind of there at this point...she does tend to serve the best runway looks though.
Oh yeah, Trixie. Meh. She's cute and awesome but she's not gonna snatch the trophy at this point so it doesn't even matter.
I also found this episode quite boring for a John Waters theme, but again, I think that has to do with my feelings toward the girls and only really rooting for one of them (again, Katya). And I don't see Katya winning the competition, which makes me even more apathetic. Oh well lol.
I don't underrstand how RuPaul looks this incredible at 50? Werk! Black don't crack, baby!
I can't stop watching the moment you giffed with John posing on the runway. It's the sexiest he's ever looked!
This season really isn't that bad, is it? It's starting to pick up - there just aren't any overwhelming personalities and I think people expected another Bianca season but this is more like a Season 2.
Katya, Kennedy, and Pearl are my top 3. They're all so freaking hilarious!