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To Wong Foo... a Brief Review

Hello and welcome to the first official post of Cinema’s a Drag! I will be talking about various movies and media that has showcased the popular queer art form known as DRAG over the years! This post is dedicated to the 1995 film To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar starring Patrick Swayze as Vida Boheme, Wesley Snipes as Noxeema Jackson, and Jon Leguizamo as Chi-Chi Rodruigez. The opening sequence shows the process of Vida and Noxeema getting into drag for the regional Drag Queen of The Year pageant and ends with the introduction of Chi-Chi being harassed on the street for presenting as femme and holding her wig in her hand. Vida and Noxeema are announced the dual winners and are crowned by the reigning queen Rachel Tensions (played by RuPaul) while sporting a sequined confederate flag gown. The first 10 minutes of this movie bring up 3 points for me:

The sequence of the queens “Dragging up” is familiar to anyone who has done drag, and it’s such a small and playful scene that doesn’t particularly advance the story, but it feels like we are on screen from Vida putting her wig on and saying, “Here comes Mama” to dancing along to I am Body Beautiful by Salt-N-Pepa while putting makeup on. It is very clear that there are drag queens on the producing team that helped share this story as authentically as possible (with straight cis-men playing queer characters, but that’s for a different analysis).

While upsetting, Chi-Chi’s first appearance on screen is also a familiar experience to drag queens and other queer people who present their gender identity differently than they are “expected” to. One could ask “why wouldn’t she wear the wig to ‘pass’?” Those who don’t do drag may not know that drag wigs can be fragile and even hard to see withWe were introduced to her character as a young and outspoken person who isn’t afraid to stand up for herself even when she’s being faced with a possible violent situation.

Rachel Tension’s entrance is as problematic as it is iconic. We all know the significance behind the confederate flag and have known for a long time. This speaks to one of the properties of drag that goes against “the norm” or what is appropriate. A black queen wearing a notoriously anti-black pattern with the name Rachel Tensions is a great example of a drag concept being perfectly executed… there’s humor, there’s a bit of shock, and a WHOLE lot of glamor.

To not spoil the WHOLE movie I want to cover some of my favorite or important moments and scenes.

When the queens are picking a car from the used car lot to drive from New York to Los Angeles, they see a yellow Cadillac convertible and are enamored by how beautiful and fabulous they look in it. The car dealer explicitly warns them that it won’t get them to California, and they should take a (might I add dingy looking) gray Toyota Corolla. The queens ask the age-old question, “Style or Substance?” and a high energy driving montage of the Queens cruising down the highway.

When Vida drives through her affluent hometown, Chi Chi, who grew up in a low-income neighborhood, could not wrap her head around why Vida would leave a place with so much to offer. Vida explains “Vida gave all of this up to be Vida.” This gives us a window into Vida’s life and her queer roots. Many queer people come from many different walks of life, but there has unfortunately been a constant in many young LGBTQ+ peoples upbringing of being turned away from their own homes just for being queer.

During the road trip, Noxeema starts to read Chi Chi for not being experienced or polished enough to be a drag queen. In this (outdated and less than politically correct) scene, the ladies set up Chi Chi’s character progression for “polishing her up” to be what drag is to them. This scene stuck with me personally because when I first saw it, it gave me an opportunity to look at my own drag progression up to that point and see where I feel I am. I feel a sense of accomplishment every time I “level up” my drag in my own way.

Sherriff Dollard character is a very interesting take on homophobes. The blatant hypocrisy and disrespect with a hint of curiosity bubbling beneath the surface really makes him more comical than offensive (except for the racial slurs). From groping Ms. Vida to calling them perverts for wearing dresses. When he went to a bar, he was rambling about gay people in detail about what he thinks they do in private, which could be more of a window into his imagination or even history, although it’s never explicitly stated.

While the queens are getting to know the townspeople, the women mention their upcoming “Strawberry Social” and the queens help them put together a “girls day out” with makeovers at the beauty parlor, and new outfits at the local store. I specifically love when Noxeema falls in love with a burnt orange/auburn fringe 2 piece set that is also very much my taste.

There are plenty more iconic scenes, lines, and reads that I couldn’t cover in this post alone. To see them, To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is available anywhere you can rent films. I hope you check it out, thanks for reading!