3/15/2024 0 Comments Divine drag queen out ofdragDrag culture has always been on the margins-even in gay and lesbian society.ĭoes it take a homophobic environment to produce someone like Divine? Today, pop culture has a lot of women acting like drag queens-Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, to name a few-but few contemporary drag icons besides RuPaul, who became famous back in the 90s. Divine certainly wasn’t the first person to do drag, but he was among the first wave of drag performers to really turn drag upside down and play with the notions of gender. A lot of the drag queens at the time wanted to be Miss America. They wanted to pass as women-beautiful, gorgeous creatures. Was it easy to convince your sources, like John Waters, to participate in the film? Still from Hairspray courtesy of BAMcinématek/Photofest Divine was a beautiful, gorgeous creature, but he was also 300 pounds. I knew John, because he was in my first film, Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story. He was the first phone call I made, and I wanted to get his blessing. Not only did I get his blessing, but he opened a lot of doors for me and called everyone I wanted to interview and told them if I was going to get in touch with them, he supported this project, and they should do it.ĭivine’s mother, Francis, was still with us when we started making the film. She was the first interview that we conducted. She didn’t live to see this film, but we dedicated it to her. I’m glad she was in it she gave it its heart and soul. I think a lot of people can identify with the story of a son and mother who knew her son was different-and unlike a lot of people in her generation, she didn’t reject him. If he got beat up at school, she’d show up at the school. They did have an estrangement for a time, but it wasn’t because he was gay, it was because he was a little nuts. He would write checks in his parents’ names to pay for extravagant parties. They didn’t even know he was doing drag.ĭoes it take a juvenile delinquent to star in these movies and break boundaries?Ībsolutely. Would he have continued to play the Divine role if he hadn’t died? As Divine, he could be in your face-he could do all the things Glenn never would. He probably would have continued working with John, but I don’t think he’d continue to be the star-Divine would have been more of a side character. (He started to get more male roles towards the end of his life.) He probably would have been a grand dame of the drag world-he would be like the Dame Judi Dench of the drag women. We can’t know, but maybe it would have been Divine’s Drag Race instead of RuPaul’s Drag Race. John Waters’s movies with Divine were criticized at first for being trashy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |