DRAG RACE AND DRAGULA

Drag is cool: A Summary

WARNING: This is a long post of mine, so be ready for large amounts of writing and thoughts.

I don’t like reality TV that much, or TV at all for that matter. Most TV is either gameshows, Love Island or bad comedy shows. However, every week, without fail, I will watch the newest episode of Drag Race/Dragula (or whichever series is currently airing).

For some context, when I’m talking about ‘Drag Race’, I’m talking about RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality tv show where drag queens sing, dance, act, lipsync then win a lot of money, at least if it’s in any country other than the UK where all they win is a TV show and a couple of badges.

I got introduced to Drag Race in around April 2018, when someone who’s house I got invited to by proxy showed me and a couple of my friends the first episode of Series 8. I thought it was pretty stupid (“They do not have to lipsync at the end of the show you’re kidding!”) but when I went home I ended up watching the entirety of Series 8, 9 and 10. I then became obsessed with the show and watched every season before Series 10, as that was the most recent one that had aired.

Now, given that my interests include horror films, videogames and football, a reality tv show about drag queens doesn’t seem high in the list of things I might be interested in, but drag is just something I really find amazing. These performers (kings, queens or creatures) can transform themselves in hours from a regular person to a different character, or even creature. That in itself is pretty similar to some horror films, where the protagonist is transformed into a zombie or a werewolf. Of course in this scenario the person is being transformed into some high concept drag queen/king rather than a monstrous creature, but it still kind of works.

Also, the variety in drag is so cool to me. Even on Drag Race you can get this and this on the same series! (That isn't to say the show is a great showcase of all types of drag, it isn't really, but it can still show somewhat the different types of drag) (Also Charity Kase and Kitty Scott Claus are both cool, even if the series they were on wasn't that great).

That being said, Dragula is the show where a person can transform into a monstrous creature, or some kind of non-human being. The first episode of Dragula I ever watched they all had to become drag cenobites, then the “losers” had to get pierced by hypodermic needles to decide who goes home. If that doesn’t sell the show, then I don’t know what will.

I usually explain Dragula as “the horror version of Drag Race” but that really doesn’t do it justice. Dragula is so cool and so weird. To anyone who’s reading this: Go and watch it! The first season might look as though it’s filmed in someone’s old basement but it’s still great TV.

This is getting way too long, but I’ll summarise it as this: I find drag, as an art form, completely fascinating, both in the transformation aspect and the whole creation of a character. More people should watch Drag Race (especially the international spinoffs, they’re arguably better than the US seasons) and more people should watch Dragula, because where else can you watch someone on TV staple money to themselves and eat cow organs then get pretend-murdered.