WHAT A DRAG! Men dressing as women has mostly been


played for laughs throughout cinematic history like Some Like It Hot, for example. However, as the years wore on, we were treated to different depictions of the world of drag, ranging from real-life seriousness to mostly comedic romps — all highlighting stories with a little more meat tucked on their bones. Paris is Burning shines a spotlight on the


voguing ball culture of drag queens and trans people of color in New York City in the 1980s. The documentary acts as an introduction to mainstream audiences about the houses that were inspired by fashion, offering safe havens to those that had been cast aside and forming family units that slayed together. Werk! It also explores serious subject matter like racism, poverty, violence, homophobia and AIDS. The first independent film that I ever saw


was The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, light years from seeing Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, which had been my only experience with watching drag on the big screen. Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce play it fierce as a transgender woman and two drag


queens who embark through the Australian Outback in a bus with the titular name. My friend kept looking at me during the infamous table tennis scene to see my reaction. And that soundtrack proved a steadfast companion after a nasty breakup. Its American cousin, To Wong Foo, Thanks


for Everything! Julie Newmar stars against- type macho men Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes as drag fairy godmothers to “little Latin boy in drag” John Leguizamo. Naturally, as any good drag queens worth their salt are apt to do in the 1990s, the trio hits the road and teaches a small town about diversity and the importance of a “say something hat day.” The Birdcage, based on the French film La


Cage aux Folles, stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as a longtime couple who are thrown for a loop at their son’s wedding an- nouncement. This means that it’s time to break out the fine china with “men playing leapfrog” on it, as they must meet conservative future in- laws Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest. Luckily, Lane’s character performs at their nightclub as a drag headliner and she-nanigans ensue as he sets out to pull the wig, err, wool over their eyes that he’s the matriarch of the family.


WE ARE FAMILY Speaking of family, a common theme in


LGBTQ storytelling is how we get the privilege of choosing our own tribe, one that doesn’t consist of blood ties. Rather, the people that come into our lives that show us true acceptance for who we are, which these films perfectly illustrate. When Tales of the City aired on PBS in 1993, it caused quite the stir with its subject matter of sexuality in its many incarnations and, hand to pearls, smoking of the devil’s lettuce. Set in 1970s, and based on Armistead Maupin’s


novel, it followed the very green Mary Ann Singleton’s (Laura Linney) indoctrination into San Francisco life at 28 Barbary Lane. The apartment complex’s cast of characters include Mrs. Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), Michael “Mouse” Tolliver (Marcus D’Amico), Mona Ramsey (Chloe Webb) and Brian Hawkins (Paul Gross) who become her chosen family. More Tales of the City and Further Tales of the City brought the family dynamic to Showtime in 1998 and 2001, respectively, and then landed on Netflix with the 2019 miniseries that


brought back old faces, mixing with new ones like trans actor Elliot Page. The concept of finding your tribe is also at the heart of A Home at the End of the World, in which Bobby (Colin Farrell) and Johnathan (Dal- las Roberts) have a shared past that includes some experimentation and their present-day relationship incorporates Clare (Robin Wright Penn) into the fold. Unfortunately for fans of Farrell, his full-frontal nudity scene was cut — wait, that sounds painful, so we’ll go with “excised” — from the theatrical release.


JULY 2021| @theragemonthly 25


For my money — which totals a buck and some change — Girls Will Be Girls is the funniest drag movie that was unleashed into theatres nearly 20 years ago. It follows the exploits of three ladies — Jack Plotnick, Varla Jean Merman and Coco Peru in top form as a washed-up actress. The new girl in town is out to make her mark in Hollywood and a spinster is pining for a love that never was. The very non-PC humor and crackling one-liners like “I’ve had more children pulled out of me than a burning orphanage” add to the zaniness of this parody of All About Eve. And the trio continue the story in 2008 as a web series on YouTube on their GWBGonline channel. Naturally, anything with Divine filmed


through the warped lens of gay director John Waters must be on the list! But the dilemma is that there are so many good ones to choose from, starting with Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Hairspray and Polyester, which co-starred former Hollywood heartthrob — and eventually out actor — Tab Hunter. The two even team up again for the non-Waters directed vehicle Lust in the Dust, which my dad absolutely loved. Hmm, that’s queer!


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