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Notes -
Something I learned on the Reddit Motte was that much of drag as a culture is a form of clowning. Yes, as in circus clowns and Vaudeville clowns, but also the Italian tradition, harlequins, and jesters. Apparently it’s about colorful and outlandish drag queens teaching women how to “perform” their femininity. It’s basically the inverse of transsexuality-as-passing, which is to be treated as Srs Bsns.
I immediately saw parallels with pro wrestling and the space opera: they’re loaded with tropes, colorful characters, outlandish stereotypes, meant to teach legible moral lessons and inform men how to perform masculinity and nerds their nerdiness, respectively. (I also started seeing clowning in all genre media at that point, but I’ll stick to pro wrestling and space opera.)
What turned people off of Star Trek Discovery was a clown show with no clowning: it was trying to be Srs Bsns in a space which was designed for clowning. The Orville stepped into the gap, and now so has Strange New Worlds. Stargate: Universe made similar missteps ten years before, but evolved into compelling and operatic expansions of its Stargate predecessors, just in time to be cancelled. Star Trek Picard season 3 looks as it will be a triumphant return to clowning, judging by the trailer. Star Wars 7 and 9 were just clowning, with 8 a crying clown winking at the audience.
My point is that drag is apparently inherently about sex/gender but probably not supposed to be sexy unless the tropes and the funny/dramatic/funny mood roller coaster dictate it.
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