#then electra came and he was also just generally left side of stage at a higher lever than gb

[sevenkittensinatrenchcoat]

Cast Interviews From 1986 vs. 2016

So, I’ve found a podcast that’s been interviewing various Cats cast members and superfans. Most of the interviews come from the cast of the Broadway Revival, but there are also several interviews from US Tour III which went from 1986 to 1988. So we’ve got a bit of both old and new. Here’s what I’ve learned about how things have changed over the years and why the Broadway Revival is such a confused mess:

In the interviews of US Tour III cast members, it seemed like everyone was told the story of the play and had a pretty clear idea of what was going on. Some actors were given backstories for their characters, but the amount of detail varied. Actors cast as Munkustrap and Tugger were told that their characters were brothers and the sons of Old Deuteronomy. Actors cast as Demeter were given a full backstory for the character. However, Grizabella’s story remained vague. Bombalurina, Mistoffelees, and Sillabub also had no confirmed backstories, and most of their characters were improvised during rehearsals. Also, since this tour was from 1986-1988, a lot of cast members don’t remember a lot of what they were told. It’s been a while.

Out of the backstory and character information provided, Demeter’s was the most consistent. She was kidnapped by Macavity, escaping shortly before the events of the play. She’s an outsider to the tribe, but she knows Bombalurina and stays close to her. Bombalurina also had some experience with Macavity, but she enjoyed it more than Demeter did. This lines up with what Jacob Brent said about Demeter in the 1998 version.

Some character dynamics are different from more modern versions. Alonzo is Demeter’s love interest, as was typical with Broadway-based productions. Also, in most productions, Alonzo doesn’t get along with Tugger, but he’s a fan of him in this version.

Outside of Alonzo, it was made perfectly clear that Mistoffelees was played as a full adult, the same age as Munkustrap. The actor who played him throughout the tour, Randy Slovacek seemed to have made up most of Misto’s characterization in that production by himself. Misto was friends with Grizabella in the past and wasn’t upset by whatever she did to upset the others. When she first appears, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, taking the place of Coricopat and Tantomile, who were cut for the tour, run up to her and try to chase her away. Misto calls them off, but Munkustrap won’t let him do anything else to help her and he respects his authority too much to try anything.

The interviews of the Broadway Revival cast tell a very different story of what was going on behind the scenes. Apparently, they were rushed for time and there weren’t as many rehearsals before the show as there usually are. That, combined with the new choreography meant that nobody really knew what they were doing. Munkustrap and Tugger were confirmed to be siblings, but very little backstory information was given outside of that. The few cast members who worked with Gillian Lynne seemed to have a better idea of what was going on with their characters. Andy Blankenbuehler was still figuring things out and wasn’t able to offer similar clarity. The few times anyone was told anything, it was usually by Trevor Nunn.

Basically, Nunn and Lynne invented Cats, and nobody else seems to know how the fuck any of it works.

Tyler Hanes and Sara Jean Ford knew each other before being cast and they came up with a lot of backstory for their characters, which everyone else got drawn into. Ford played Jellylorum as the same age as Tugger. Since the actors are best friends, so are the characters, even though that makes little sense with their personalities. Jennyanydots, Bombalurina, Demeter, and Grizabella were in that same age range as well. It appears that nobody was anywhere between Munkustrap and Old Deuteronomy in age, for some reason. Jenny and Skimble are a couple in this version, so Skimble’s probably also in this group. They have kittens together. Electra and Rumpleteazer are among them, though nothing was said about Mungojerrie. The merge with Coricopat and Tantomile in the US Tour implies that they’re twins in that version. In the Broadway Revival and the tour based on it, they’re apparently unrelated.

Grizabella ended up with a far more detailed backstory, all made up by the cast. She’s Jellylorum’s sister and she stole a man away from her and Jelly never loved again. None of the kittens are Jelly’s, though she’s sort of the nanny to all of them. Griz also had some sort of affair with Tugger and broke his heart, which is why he doesn’t do commitment. Then, Griz ran off with Macavity, got dumped for Bombalurina, and then she got dumped for Demeter who decided that Macavity was bad news pretty early on and ditched him. The relationship was abusive, but no one mentioned a kidnapping. After leaving Macavity, Griz was no longer welcome in the tribe, even though Bomba and Demeter were because Reasons. Forgetting that these characters are not human, she then got addicted to drugs, was driven to prostitution to support her drug habit, had a bunch of kids, and then left those kids to be raised by Jenny, who resents her for it. Nobody says which kittens are Grizabella’s. Portions of this backstory were used in the 2019 movie.

Also, I can say that some of the characterization issues with Tugger were, in fact, a direct result of the choreography changes. Tyler Hanes wanted to play up the sexuality of the character in a way that the new choreography didn’t allow. If Gillian Lynne’s choreography had been used for the number, Tugger’s characterization probably would’ve turned out very different, but the changes meant that what Hanes knew about the character, and how the audience perceived the character, were altered by the new choreography putting emphasis on vanity instead of sexuality.

So, that’s the story so far. Compared to at least one early production, the Broadway Revival was rushed and poorly thought out. The actors were given little information and left to fend for themselves, and they prioritized their bonds with their irl friends over what made sense for their characters. Interviews of cast members from both the revival and the following tour reference Andy Blankenbuehler as the one who had all the information, who the cast looked to for instructions. But, he had no idea what he was doing and couldn’t really help them.

Most of the problems can be traced to Blankenbuehler not knowing what he was doing and never really figuring it out. Though, some blame has to be placed on the cast who, left to their own devices, had a lot of bad ideas. Hanes and Ford in particular, though it was good that someone was trying to take charge, created a bit of a mess. None of Jellylorum’s character resembles any other Jellylorum characterization I’ve ever seen, and it doesn’t even come across clearly on stage. The young cast all seemed to struggle with the idea of playing older characters and nobody told them that they couldn’t age them down. The generation gap between Tugger and Jenny and Jelly is character information that’s now completely lost on the audience. You need older characters disapproving of Tugger to show that he’s a controversial figure to the tribe, not just an annoyance to Munkustrap.

But, some of the worst characterization problems were not entirely the fault of the cast. As I mentioned before, Tugger’s characterization was changed by the choreography. Grizabella had already been aged down by her redesign. Since Demeter’s kidnapping backstory wasn’t explained, this affected how Demeter was portrayed. Her sympathy for Grizabella came from having been on that side of town as Macavity’s prisoner and seeing the condition she was in. Without that backstory, Kim Faure may have not known that Demeter was supposed to have sympathy for Grizabella and interpreted her part differently. This was the result of unclear direction.

What We’ve Learned Today:

1. In the 1980s, Mistoffelees was, in fact, played as older than Jacob Brent played him in the VHS.

2. Munkustrap and Tugger (and not Mistoffelees) have pretty much always been the sons of Old Deuteronomy.

3. The backstory Jacob Brent gave for Demeter was the standard backstory for the character well before the VHS was filmed.

4. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer were considered twins in the 1980s and most likely continued to be seen as such until the revival era, though I haven’t exactly checked in with every single production.

5. The Broadway Revival was a behind the scenes and nightmare and it’s mostly Blankenbuehler’s fault.

6. Gillian Lynne wrote Cats. Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a concept album.

7. There are no middle-aged cats in the 2016 revival. I think Sara Jean Ford started it.

8. The idea that Grizabella’s backstory involved Macavity started with the 2016 cast improvising.

9. Kim Faure’s Demeter was most likely OOC due to a removal or lack of explanation of backstory.

10. Sometimes it’s okay to do things the same way they’ve been done before.

[disinvited-guest]

3/13/18 Recap

Here is the first one! This show was truly fantastic.  It was banter heavy and they played a lot of songs I had never heard live before. I also got to meet @forktailfarmer for the first time at this show.  Yay!

So it turns out Missouri is huge.  I drove through it for the vast majority of the 7+ hours it took me to get from my uncles’ house in Indiana to the venue.  When I finally got there, I parked in the wrong place, went around the side of the building and Curt was just coming out of door.  I pretended not to notice him, and I think it worked since I was wearing a jacket over my tmbg shirt.  I then realized I was in the wrong parking lot and went back to move my car.  I parked in the right place after a trip to a bathroom and went around side of the building again.  Curt was  walking out that same door as I went by.

I got into line and waited with the other fans who soon showed up.  We saw Linnell walk in front of building briefly and listened to them soundcheck Let's Get This Over With and Music Jail. They seemed to be having some trouble with the former, playing one bit over and over, and I made the comment that it didn’t sound like we would be hearing it that night.

An hour before doors, they checked us all and moved us to an inside waiting area.  Curt was just wandering in and out of the space, once or twice with Scott and the new lighting guy.  They then let us in to the room, which was basically a warehouse with absolutely enormous fans on the ceiling and windows along the top of the walls.  While we were waiting in there, Flans did a vibe report, which I tried to watch, but couldn’t really hear.

Some general notes from this show:

I was right in front of Flans’ mic, and so he got up super close at several points in the show.

Curt was absolutely FANTASTIC! He seemed much more comfortable with everyone else than when I saw them in February, and it really boosted his performance..

The guys came onstage and immediately shattered my prediction by jumping into Lets Get This Over With.  It didn’t go entirely smoothly, but it was exciting to hear anyway and I liked that they had Linnell on accordion for it.  Flans gave us a quick greeting and told us they were playing two sets. Linnell responded snarkily. I can’t remember exactly how, but their back and forth went on long enough that Flans told the audience that them talking was all the show was “the second set is all spoken word”

From there they went into Ana Ng, and then straight to Damn Good Times.  The audience supplied quite a bit of the backing vocals for the latter, I saw Linnell grin and move back from the mic because of it.  This  was  when Danny recognized me and I got a big smile!

Flans mentioned the venues name, The Truman, and said that adding to the number of venues they had played at that were named after presidents.  He started to list the presidential places they had played, but only name the Lincoln Theater before someone from the crowd shouted “Trump Hotel.”  

Flans responded they hadn’t played there, then moved his mic stand closer to the crowd and made several comments that weren’t quite criticisms before deciding “We’re not gonna get political, we’re just gonna assume everything we think in here”-pointing to his head-“is what you’re thinking, it’s like television” and started into Racist Friend.

Curt came on in the middle of the song and blew everyone away, and then the band went straight into Hey Mr. DJ, ending with the crazy fast, shouty ending.  Afterwards Flans said that he was tempted to shout “one more time” and try to do it again at the new speed.  He then introduced Curt, adding that he was from Kansas City!

It turns out that Mark Pender, the other trumpet player who worked with tmbg, is also a Kansas City native and the Johns riffed on that idea for a while.  Flans said that trumpet players must be in bloom here, and Linnell suggested that only cities that stretch across 2 states can have so many trumpet players.

Apparently the crowds’ laugher at this was unexpected, because Flans complained that we were reacting too quickly “It’s a Tuesday night, it's not even that late, there’s no reason for you to be drunk, but we expect it anyway.”

Linnell chimed in, saying that this was the point of the show where a guy would start shouting random things at them.  He did a great impression of drunken gibberish then added “And you realize he would be shouting those things even if he was the only person in the room.”

This reminded Flans of a time when he saw a Reggae band and everyone in the crowd was high “I, unfortunately was not” and whenever the band did something cool, the crowd would shout “Rewind!”, and the band would do whatever it was again.

He then told us about the only other time he saw that happen. He was in a movie theater (he told us the movie, but I don’t remember what it was) and there was a scene where a bus and a train crash into each other and the crowd all immediately stood up and shouted dewind!

“But the projectionist was not as kind as the reggae band” Flans finished.

The rewind thing became a running joke, and was shouted by the crowd at several points, with varying degrees of success.

I believe it was After All Time What when they mentioned the rearview mirror, which was fixed to Linnell’s keyboard.  Apparently it was newly purchased from a truck stop in Kansas.  Flans tried to explain to us what it was for, saying there were parts of the show where Linnell needed to see Marty. “It's all part of our ongoing effort to improve the quality of the show”  Linnell told us that he had the idea onstage but it took a long time for him to remember it when he was offstage.  He told us that the real reason he needed it was to see when Marty was making fun of him.

Somewhere around this part of the show, the guys discussed Young Marble Giants, another band who had been on Electra at the same time they had, made up of two guys and a girl.  Apparently when they were touring Europe the first time, all of the “cigar smoking interviewers” would ask them where the girl was.  They of course had no idea what they were talking about and would answer “what girl?”  Linnell thought that was good, because it made them seem mysterious.

Flans asked Linnell to introduce the next song and Linnell told us “This song is about a Pencil Rain, but I’ll leave the title a surprise.”

During these past few songs, Dan Miller had been on and off the stage.  He was having trouble with his guitar, but it also looked like he was filming something on his phone.  Eventually he switched guitars for a bit and let the crew fix whatever was bothering him about the first.

They went straight into Music Jail from Pencil Rain, then paused because Flans didn’t know what came next.  Linnell started the keyboard part for Everybody Conga, but Flans stopped him and had Marty go straight into No One Knows My Plan.

After the song Flans said that the mirror must not be working and asked Linnell if they needed to put a light on it.  Linnell said they didn’t.  The mirror worked and he and Marty had used it to do a thing on Music Jail.  Flans joked that if the mirror didn’t work, their other option was walkie-talkies and demonstrated to us how it would work “kssh-are you stopping the song now Marty?-kssh” Linnell then brought up the band Phish, who apparently has ipads to text each other onstage with. Flans thought that those texts “should be a matter of public record” and needed to be projected onto a screen onstage.

They played Dead and I Left My Body, and then Linnell went to get clippy and Danny put down his bass and walked towards the keyboards in preparation for Cloisonne.  He couldn’t get there though, because Linnell had gone back to the keyboard mic so he could argue semantics with Flans.

Flans said that the audience might “notice Linnell playing an incredibly large piece of metal.”  But Linnell interrupted, saying “I’m not playing it yet, I’m holding it.”  Flans corrected himself, then told us “You don’t recognise the Contra Alto Clarinet because it stayed in its case at your high school concert band recital, next to the bass clarinets.”

Then Linnell, still at his keyboard mic, took a complete left turn and told us “contra alto clarinets are like bitcoin, if you get one now, you’ll be set later on.”  Flans cracked up, and agreed that they would be “worth a lot in post-apocalyptic future with no electric,”  then Linnell moved away from the mic and Flans introduced Danny on the keyboard, telling us we should note how he “plays with incredible precision.”  Finally making it up to said  keyboard, Danny peeked over it and grinned at me before they started the song.

After Cloisonne, Linnell started to introduce the Mesopotamians, telling us about when he “was watching TV three thousand years ago.”

Flans interrupted him to say that “TV was better then” and launched into a bizarre tangent about the fourth version of I Love Lucy, where she was a dinosaur.  After Flans did his best Dinosaur Lucy impression, Linnell (who was getting over a cold) said that he thought he sounded like her.  

Flans responded in the same voice “Where’s the girl?” (referencing the Young Marble Giants thing from earlier) and then continued on his I Love Lucy theme with “My name is Lucille Ball and I love the taste of Menthol cigarettes.”  This fell a bit flat with the crowd, and Flans told us “some jokes we make for ourselves.” and continued on “Have you seen my dinner? It was a bunch of menthol cigarettes.”  Apparently this was one of the jokes for them not us, because the Dans were both grinning and when Flans added “ And they were lit!” they cracked up.

Bringing things back to the song at hand, Linnell said “Anyway, this is what I watched on tv 3000 ya when i was hallucinating!” and they started The Mesopotamians.

Afterwards, Flans told us that the first set was winding down, and he forgot to make some stage announcements.  He delivered them while ticking off items on his fingers “ We have a new album. It’s better than it has to be. People have noticed.”  The then asked anyone who bought a vinyl copy of the album to hold it up.  Several copies popped up around the room and Flans told us “See, it’s like a calendar but it has a record inside.”

The last song of the first set was Spy.  For the ending, Linnell had everyone play opposite several sound effects, including a doorbell, buzzer, and sawing sound.  When Flans got control, he stopped everyone but Curt (he had to clarify he wanted Curt to keep going). Curt would play long blast, then there would be several beats silence.  Flans built everything else up around that and it sounded absolutely wild and amazing. Eventually he added in the audience for a bit.  Linnell would play a choir note on the keyboard and Flans had us match it to...mixed results.  Flans brought everyone on stage to a crazy crescendo and they left the stage to thunderous applause.

The second set was preceded, of course, by the Last Wave Video and the guys didn’t even wait for the outro to go onstage.They went straight into Older with no preamble, then Flans started to introduce Tippecanoe  “people always want us to play old songs, so this one is from 1840” but Linnell interrupted, saying that wasn’t what was next on the setlist, Flans was confused and Linnell said they could play it if Flans wanted, but instead Flans turned back to us and said “People always tell us they hate our new songs”, he called on the theatre majors in the audience to fake their enthusiasm and they played I Like Fun.

They then moved on to Tippecanoe.  Flans told us we had “Probably heard the title from the one time you woke up from your nap in 9th grade history” and that it was “actually sung in bars,” very controversial, and the “song that was sung before your great-great grandfather was punched in the face.”

After Tippecanoe they introduced Marty playing the school bell For Shoehorn.  The bell apparently “induces a strong Pavlovian response” and Linnell went off on a small tangent about it making us want to knock over chairs and throw books.  Marty stood between them for the song, he would lift the bell to just over his head, hit it at the appropriate time, pause, nod, then lower the bell and stand with his eyes closed, head bowed, and hands in front of him.  It was hilarious.

Linnell introduced Self Called Nowhere by saying it was a song his grandmother taught to him.  He then clarified that he had taught it to his grandmother first, then she had taught it back to him when he forgot it.  Goof.  

Flans then had Marty play “the best part of a Phil Collins show” eventually, Flans told Marty to stop, but he was so into it, it took him a few seconds.  When he did he looked at Flans and asked “Rewind?”  The crowd picked up on it and started shouting “rewind!” and so Flans had him do it again.

Linnell then started the accordion part for How Can I Sing Like a Girl while Flans introduced it.  “This next song is from our...Factory Showroom album and its about being in junior high school choir.”  

After that, the Dans returned to stage, and Marty moved back to the drum riser, where he ate a snack while watching Curt’s intro to Istanbul. Once again, Curt used both the regular trumpet and the valve trombone, which was fantastic.  Flans had the guys do two fake endings, which fooled most of the crowd both times.

I believe it was here that Flans asked everybody where Omaha was.  The crowd shouted “North” back at him. He was slightly confused by their response and many people in the crowd pointed which way North was.  Eventually Dan and Danny pointed in the same direction from stage.  Flans then complained “who booked this tour?”  Since they had traveled such a long way to get here, he explained, he had kinda thought they would be going in the opposite direction.  He then turned to the crowd and stated “As you can see ladies and gentlemen, I have no idea where I am.”  Everybody laughed and he leaned into the mic to add “God is done with me,” which made everybody on stage completely lose it.

They then launched into a run of songs with no banter: Number Three, Wicked Little Critta, and Twisting.  Wicked Little Critta was noted on the setlist as “no words” but Linnell did the words for it, so I’m not sure why. Dan and Danny were really goofing around during that song, since there are large sections they don't play during.

Flans introduced Mrs. Bluebeard as another new song then shouted “Theatre majors, we’re counting on you! We’ll accept lit majors too, just fake your enthusiasm!”

Linnell then told (with Flans chiming in) the Amy Schumer show story with the “I hope you go to see your favorite band and they only play new songs!” line and Flans told us “We tried to start a conversation with her on twitter about it but it didn’t happen.”

I’m not positive, but I think it was after Bluebeard that Linnell told us all a story about how someone at a show made eye contact with him, flipped him off, and nodded. And how he didn’t know what was happening.  Flans said that the lady who had flipped Linnell off was “the definition of a diva,” since she believed everyone else understood what she was going for.

Linnell demonstrated how the lady had flipped him off, and Flans warned him that it would be all over the internet now  “I did that at a show, now you can search on the internet and find that picture everywhere.”  Apparently, this upset his mom, and when he told her “I’ve done a lot of shows mom” she said (he did a great voice for it) “Yes, but why did you have to do that?”

Linnell then decided that it was actually Flans’ mom who flipped him off and that it was all payback.

They played When Will You Die, with “us and Curt” wondering. Afterwards Linnell got his accordion, and there was an issue with a bit of feedback.  It didn’t seem like a big deal, but Flans said they dreaded a little bit of feedback because it could build up.  Linnell chimed in that “it’s like an air raid siren to us.”  Flans then announced Turn Around as Turning for some reason.  I’d never heard it live before, and it was truly fantastic.

Then it was time to Introduce the Band.  After Marty’s solo, we all shouted rewind and he did it again.  After introducing the guys in the band, they thanked all the crew members, including the lighting guy, who was new for this leg of the tour.

Flans then decided he was going to look in the crowd for beards.  He decided that there were “40% less beards than average, but the ones that are there are very prodigious” and announced he was going to make eye contact with the two best beards.  Danny came to the front of the stage to point out the ones he thought were best, although Flans made different picks.  With the beard matter settled, they closed out the set with Birdhouse in Your Soul, with an especially awesome “interruption” of the guitar part by Curt.  

The cheering and clapping for an encore quickly morphed into a chant of “Rewind! Rewind!” that lasted until the guys came back on stage.  Flans went straight up to the mic to tell us  “We just had a very interesting band meeting... We’re never telling that story again.”  This was greeted with laughs, cheers, and even a shout or two of “rewind.”  Flans then told us “We’re gonna play some songs and then we’re gonna leave again.”

Linnell told him that that was actually a good segway because that's what the two songs were about.  They then played End of the Tour and New York City, which I suppose could both be about that.

The cheering for the second encore didn’t include many shouts for a rewind (it’s a really hard word to chant guys).  Marty was the first one back onstage, and he started the beat to Particle Man as the others joined him.

Linnell put on his accordion as Flans started us clapping, and then told us “Don’ts stop clapping, no matter what happens onstage, no matter how much we beg!” then in a much calmer voice “I was just kidding, you can stop clapping.”  Most of the audience kept on going, but a few stopped, L pointed one person who did shook his head.  The interlude this time was Here You Come Again.  After Particle Man was over, Linnell stayed on the accordion and they played Doctor Worm for their final song of the night, the big highlight of that was a big Linnell jump at the end of the solo.

They were right back out with a case of stickers, and Flans handed me a big stack of them.  I did my best to stay out of his way while holding onto my spot in hopes of a setlist.  The girl next to me then started begging Danny for a setlist.  He told her he couldn't, so I assumed they were saving them for something and turned to move out of the rest of the crowd’s way.  Not a second later though, I heard the same girl scream “thank you” and turned back just in time to miss getting one of the two remaining setlists that Fresh was giving out (which I assumed were the last ones).  

Danny noticed and caught my eye, looking mildly concerned, and I shrugged and smiled at him because it wasn’t that big a deal.  But then he walked back and got a setlist from the side of the drum riser and brought it over to me.  I took it with my left hand and handed him his mini with my right.  He looked at it and smiled at me before leaving the stage.

I tried to give Flans his mini, but he said he wasn’t signing anything, and I gave up.  I met briefly with Amber (the other Amber obviously, I didn't meet myself) and her entourage (husband, sister, sister’s husband) and then they headed over to the merch stand while I went to the circle forming around Marty (who had started signing) to give him his mini.

I was standing pretty far back, watching the crew start to pack up when Danny came back onstage and motioned me over.  He said he loved the mini and wanted a picture.  I was slow on the uptake that he wanted a picture with me and it (since I am both a complete ditz and was starstruck), but once I realized I pulled out my camera and a very kind fan waiting on Marty offered to take the picture.  

Sanny sat on the stage with his arm around me and his head leaning on top of mine and we both smiled at the camera.  After I got my phone back he told me he wanted me to send him the picture.  “Are we friends on Facebook?” I nodded.  “Just post it there and tag me.  What’s your name again? Ashley?”

“Amber”

“Ok, Amber” and a smile.

I grinned back like a idiot and there was a brief pause (nice, not awkward I think) before I mentioned I had made minis for the other guys.  He said he could take them back for me.  I asked if he was sure, since I didn’t want to make him carry them all, but he was ok with it so I pulled the rest from my purse.  He seemed impressed, especially that I had made a Curt, and asked if I had made them all.  I babbled for a bit about that as I got every one out, telling him how I had a lot of energy after the Cleveland show and had driven home and started on his at 3am, and how of course I would make one for everybody.  I got another radiant smile, and then he took the minis backstage and eventually out to the bus, which I later learned to my delight through several social media posts. I give myself a B- on how I handled this interaction.  I am kinda embarrassed because I think I acted like a ditz, but I was at least semi-coherent.

Since I had given Danny all the minis, I figured I wouldn’t waste Marty’s time and left the venue walking on air.

[queermediastudies]

Camp & Androgyny: The Story of Queer Culture Going Mainstream

Group #1: Grace Jacobsen, Cienna Page, and Ryan Williams 

Camp and androgyny are two aspects of queer culture that have broken into the mainstream. These aesthetic choices emphasize the extremes of gender bending or genderfuck fashion and campy fashion. Both were born out of the queer community, particularly in drag culture in the 1960s. Campy queens were common and popular because they emphasized the aspect of queer culture that many did not want to take part in. Androgyny, on the other hand, is a blending of the two genders. According to Andrews, Cook and Martin (2016), “Androgyny was described as individuals possessing a wide repertoire of characteristics that were masculine and feminine - assertive and yielding, and instrumental and expressive…” (p. 593) Both became influential styles although, androgyny had been practiced long before camp came into the mainstream. WIth artists like Elton John, Prince, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga and Janelle Monáe. But what have these artists also brought to the table other than widespread recognition of camp and androgyny, as well as LGBT platforms. They have brought the idea that queer people are defined specifically as camp or androgynous, but they are never “normal” people. This leads to a stereotype that many queer people have been fighting for decades; not every gay man wants to be or acts like a drag queen or campy, and not every lesbian wants to be androgynous and be manly. One could also argue that straight, cisgender artists have used elements of camp and androgyny to further their career. They use them as tools to generate buzz around their music, performances and have benefited from the increase media exposure.

Movie cover for the 25th anniversary of Jon Waters' Pink Flamingos starring Devine 

Image Source: https://noma.org/event/john-waters-film-festival-pink-flamingos/

The history of camp and androgyny start off on very different paths but both come from queered cultures. It has been speculated that the word "camp" comes from the French word “se camper”, or to flaunt, which may explain the connotation of flaunting one's queerness. The camp aesthetic and style can be recognized as far back as the early eighteenth century, growing alongside queer subcultures rising within western European cities. The heteronormative melodrama surrounding classic Hollywood became a breeding ground for members of the “cult of camp”, or the camp fanbase.

Actresses like Joan Crawford, with her larger than life personality and acting prowess, Mae West, with her crude humor partnered with the dolled up vision of classic Hollywood, and Judy Garland, with her exaggerated mannerisms and style, were massive influences to the camp aesthetic. This aesthetic includes more than just the clothes, but an attitude and a way one presents themselves, almost an identity. Actresses like Mae West, Judy Garland and Joan Crawford built their images upon the foundation of camp. Gay men specifically celebrated “the style and bitchiness” of these actresses and, as otherwise heterosexual women, they became gay icons because of their queer personalities till this very day.

But actresses weren’t the only people capitalizing off the cult of camp. The 1960s brought about countless filmmakers who employed the ideas of camp in film, including experimental filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Andy Warhol. Their queered films, like Lucifer Rising [1973], Flaming Creatures [1963], Blowjob [1963], became infamous among an ever growing audience and came to inspire the legendary filmmaker John Waters. His character Divine, a truly camp drag queen famous for her exaggerated makeup and huge personality, starred in countless films of her own including Pink Flamingos [1972], Female Trouble [1974], Polyester [1981], and Hairspray [1988]. All of these films, though from different times and directors, all captivate a similar theme of dramatization. These directors all employed the camp aesthetics in their films in different ways but all interpretations are camp: a sensibility and style based in exaggeration and theatrics.

American actress Marlene Dietrich wearing male inspired tuxedos

Image Source:

http://clothedchameleon.blogspot.com/2012/01/pass-me-some-of-that-androgyny.html

Androgyny exists on the other side of the spectrum, almost completely opposite to the drama that is camp. Androgyny began as a fashion statement before it began presenting as gender later into the 20th century. It originally began as feminist movement  with few women in power mixing masculine pieces with gowns and corsets. It was seen as a powerful statement and, after the high feminine fashion of the Victorian era, in the 1920s and brought a very queer movement that involved women taking on more boyish appearances. 

The desired female body in the 1920s was thin, flat, and masculine, the same way people look at thick and curvy bodies today. The era brought tuxedos, short haircuts, fedoras, and other traditionally male accessories and clothing to the women's fashion realm. Women even went as far as to bind their chests with bandages to achieve flatter chests. But women were not alone in this venture.

The counterculture movement brought traditionally feminine fashion to the men’s world like long hair, bright colors, flowing clothing, and prints, while women wore bell bottom pants to achieve a straight silhouette and shoulder padding in suit jackets to look broader and more commanding. The idea of mixing the two gender presentations was desirable and even mainstream and normative while being very queer. Queer and straight people alike participated in the phenomenon and it has yet to slow ever since.

Today, fashion presents androgyny as more avant-garde, even earning a category as “non-binary/gender bending” over the past year at Paris Fashion Week. However, many reclaim it as a perfectly efficient style or even as a gender orientation. As a concept, androgyny has always been the implication of not being completely male nor female as it lays on a spectrum in between. This fluidity of the fashion has allowed people who don’t fit the two gender binaries to identify on a spectrum with a label that makes them more comfortable. Even though it did not start out as gender presentation and even heteronormative, androgyny has certainly been embraced as queer culture for be gender bending.

David Bowie, in monochromatic tones, seductively engages the camera while smoking a cigarette

Image Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/david-bowie-mick-rock_us_55f722d6e4b063ecbfa5397b

David Bowie. He is seen as the king of camp and androgyny. His style and aesthetic have been influential to other artists since the 1960s, and his widespread success has been credited to some acceptance of queer individuals. Although Bowie has described himself as bisexual, it was noted that this was more of an experimentation phase, rather than his actual identity. He was married twice, has had children, and rarely spoke about his private sex life. His most famous persona would have to be Ziggy Stardust, a character that is recognized as androgynous and blurring the lines of gender. The reader or listener does not truly know what gender the character is, and it is left up to the imagination.

Prince seductively posing for the camera

Image Source: http://www.theelitesng.com/in-fashion-prince-reigned-supreme-nudity-androgyny-and-the-color-purple/

Prince was known for two things: his musical ability and his fashion. From early on in his career, Prince pushed the boundaries and comfort level for many people. His over the top fashion choices, often complimented with heels, were used as tools to generate buzz around his music. One interesting fact was that Prince stated he only wore heels because women that it was sexy. Prince was a known womanizer who has had numerous affairs and fligns in Hollywood, notable examples being Shelia E., Carmen Electra, Kim Basinger, Madonna and many others. His use of androgyny and camp was started in the beginning of his career until around 2001 when he became a Jehovah’s Witness. From that point on he would distance himself from the sexually explicit material and costumes that had made him famous. Even though it is not part of our picture count, I will insert one of his most iconic fashion moments.

Prince performing at the 1991 MTV Video Awards wearing assless chaps

Image Source:  https://giphy.com/gifs/prince-sexiest-9QIpjGhTcOTLO

Elton John performing in one of his many outlandish costumes

Image Source:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/455356212296065007/?lp=true

Out of all the artists that have used camp as an effective tool to further their career, Elton John is probably one of the most famous. The rocket man was known for his outlandish outfits and performance materials. His often bedazzled, colorful and campy costumes would garner attention from around the world. Unlike the previous male entries on this list, Elton John is in fact gay. His sexuality and the association between that and his outfits may have a contributing factor as to why gay men have to live with this.

Justin Johnson and his real estate agent, Phillip, embrace upon learning that Justin will be a homeowner (Dancing Queen – Season 1 Episode 2 Man, I Feel Like a Woman)

Source: https://www.netflix.com/watch/80198436?trackId=200257859

The Netflix original series “Dancing Queen” is a reality series which follows the life and career of Justin Johnson, known by his stage name Alyssa Edwards, an iconic drag performer most recognized for her multiple appearances on the Emmy-winning television show, RuPaul’s Drag Race. Apart from the fame of Alyssa Edwards, Johnston, too, is a successful business person and choreographer. It is in this unscripted frenzy, where Netflix subscribers are thrust into the world of dance, drag, and drama. On its surface, “Dancing Queen” presents itself as refreshing and sunny in disposition. (D’Addario, 2018) However, once below the surface, this sunny series is really just a perfect example of the commodification of (queer) camp culture. Which brings into question the issues which surrounds the commodification of marginalized groups for the benefit of the larger, hegemonic media landscape.

To give context and understanding, the above image depicts Justin Johnson, a queer individual, pursuing the general American, neoliberal dream of home ownership. Johnson is quite literally embracing, as depicted by the real estate agent, capitalistic and neoliberal dominant values. Where, then, the returned embrace of the real estate agent can be interpreted as a hegemonic nod to “it doesn’t matter your identity – race, gender, sexual identity or the like – so long as you have the money you will be taken seriously.” Johnson now certainly has the money to be taken seriously. It is here where we see the obvious and problematic nature of the commodification of (queer) camp culture as seen in “Dancing Queen.” For, regardless of true support or inclusivity, if there are profits to be had the corporate elite will come running – whether that be in entertainment media or real estate. It is in this commodification of queer stereotypes as seen through the lens of Alyssa Edwards and Justin Johnson in “Dancing Queen” which “demonstrates the hegemonic nature of mass culture and the justification of exploitation through tolerance.” (Yaksich, 2005)

Image A: The feminine, Janelle Monáe, and masculine, Janelle Monáe, sitting upon the same couch.

Image Source: Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGRzz0oqgUE

Image B: In her music video, “Make Me Feel,” the androgynous figure Janelle Monae assumes an assertive stance over her female partner, while simultaneously assuming a position of submissiveness with her male partner.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGRzz0oqgUE

Janelle Monáe, widely recognized for her androgyny, appears in both feminine and masculine form in her 2018 music video “Make Me Feel.” Sitting poised on the arm of a couch and clothed in more traditionally feminine dress, Monáe looks down upon her own self laid back in what can only be described as more traditionally masculine dress. Here the masculine and the feminine collide in a rather nuanced moment of androgyny (Image A). A moment also played out in words as Monáe sings, “Powerful with a little bit of tender.” (Monáe, 2018) Two mutually opposed traits existing in one form. Though, as the music video progresses, Monáe’s androgynous theatricality begins to stray from moderate atypical gender expression to something entirely problematic – Janelle Monáe’s androgyny in “Make Me Feel” is fundamentally “reasserting binary understandings of gender, sexuality, and heteronormativity. Hence, her androgynous performance isn’t necessarily truly fluid or queer.” (M. Fischer, personal communication, October 18, 2018) This reassertion of a negative kind can be seen in Image B. When with the woman, Monáe assumes a position of power. She approaches from the front and takes on a very assertive sexual stance. When with the man, however, it is he who is in the position of power, not Monáe. She assumes a position of sexual submission, with her back to him as he stands above and behind her. Were this moment to have been truly queer, all sexual behaviors stereotypical of the heteronormative male/female dynamic would have been turned on its head. This was not the case. Instead, the dominant assumptions of the gender/sexual/ heteronormative binary were confirmed.

This is entirely problematic because, as a media text, Janelle Monáe’s “Make Me Feel” video holds the responsibility of helping to “influence our understandings of [differing] social identities … and [thereby shaping] how people view the world and what they understand – and perhaps misunderstand.” (Alberts, Nakayama, & Martin, 2016) The root of this problem lies in the fact that Janelle Monáe has distributed a falsely queer image in her music video which negatively misinforms peoples already pre-existing perceptions of queer identity.

The mainstream appropriation of camp and androgyny, as seen in the many examples outlined above, are, in reality, harmful because they perpetuate and (re)produce stereotypes about the queer community, reinforcing that queer identity is either exclusively theatrical or gender bending. On the one hand, such mainstream appropriation acts as a positive sign of queer acceptance into popular culture, however, it ultimately reinforces the mainstream (and often negative) stereotypes which surround queer identity characteristics. This can be seen in the historical emergence of camp and androgyny in cult film and avant-garde fashion, in the campy and/or androgynous musical performances of pop icons the likes of Prince, Elton John, or David Bowie, and in the contemporary examples of Janelle Monáe and Alyssa Edwards.

References 

Alberts, J. K., Nakayama T. K., Martin, J. N., (2016) Human Communication in Society (4th Edition). New York, NY: Pearson. 

Andrews, N.C.Z., Cook, R.E., Martin, C.L. (2016). Reviving androgyny: A modern day perspective on flexibility of gender identity and behavior. Sex Roles. 76. 592-603.

Camp. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2018, from http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Camp-THE-HISTORY-OF-CAMP.html

D'Addario, D. (2018, September 28). TV Review: Netflix's 'Dancing Queen'. Retrieved from https://variety.com/2018/tv/reviews/dancing-queen-review-netflix-alyssa-edwards-1202957290/

Monáe, J. (2018, February 22). Make Me Feel [Official Music Video] [Video file]. Retrieved from  tGRzz0oqgUE

Townson, A., Sambrook, A., Lanning, C., Staker, J., Nuttall, B., Thomas, L., . . . Morgan Harries. (2016, February 05). A History of Androgyny in Fashion – The Oxford Student. Retrieved from https://www.oxfordstudent.com/2016/02/05/a-history-of-androgyny-in-fashion/

Yaksich, M. J., (2005). Consuming queer: The commodification of culture and its effects on social acceptance. Boston College Undergraduate Research Journal, 1, 1-12.