![]() ![]() It is our contention that through the manipulation of physiology, the contestants in RuPaul's Drag Race render corporeality a form of costuming that simultaneously etiolates drag and commodifies the body. Our examination of RuPaul's Drag Race will draw on these insights by putting them into conversation with Catherine Rottenberg and Matt Sparke's work on the embodiment of neo-liberal market ideology in a way that speaks to Ali MacLaurin and Aoife Monks' conceptualization of the everyday through what Marcel Mauss refers to as techniques of the body. This brings into stark relief the continuing relevance of both bell hooks and Judith Butler's early theoretical interventions into the world of drag. Drag Race commodifies the body through performances of drag that simultaneously attempt to subvert as they reify and fetishize hegemonic expressions of white, ruling-class femininity. In appropriating the political history of drag culture as both social commentary and activism, RuPaul's Drag Race silences the resistance to hegemonic gender binaries that is characteristic of the origins of radical drag. This article explores the spectacularized commodification of the queer body that takes place in RuPaul's Drag Race. It is my hope that experts in other fields, including queer theorists who study drag culture, will further enrich the conversation with their contributions. In the spirit of Film, Fashion & Consumption’s ‘Short Cuts’ section, which encourages short analyses of timely topics, this piece aims to spark discussion across disciplines. In so doing, RuPaul’s Drag Race manages simultaneously to parody the so-called American Dream while encouraging its pursuit. Yet the show differs from other drag competitions like those featured in US documentaries The Queen (Simon, 1968) and Paris is Burning (Livingston, 1990) in its ambivalent and lucrative engagement with consumer culture. Drag Race, like other drag or female impersonation competitions, engages dress and performance to parody a range of normative social categories such as gender and sexuality. This essay proposes that reality television show RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009–present) simultaneously participates in a highly commercial medium while commenting on, critiquing and parodying consumer culture.
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