This edited volume is an exploration of the social, cultural, political, and commercial implications of the trailblazing reality television series RuPaul’s Drag Race. Going beyond mere analysis of the show itself, the contributors interrogate the ways RuPaul’s Drag Race has affected queer representation in media, examining its audience, economics, branding, queer politics, and every point in between.
Since its groundbreaking and subversive entry into the reality television complex in 2009, the show has had profound effects on drag and the cultures that surround it. Bringing together scholarship across disciplines—including cultural anthropology, media studies, linguistics, sociology, marketing, and theater and performance studies—the collection offers rich academic analysis of Ru Paul’s Drag Race and its lasting influence on fan cultures, queer representation, and the very fabric of drag as an art form in popular cultural consciousness.
Reviews
Table of Contents
2. ’Change the Motherfucking World!’: The Possibilities and Limitations of Activism in RuPaul’s Drag Race - Ash Kinney d’Harcourt
3. Queering Africa: Bebe Zahara Benet’s "African" Aesthetics and Performance - Lwando Scott
4. ’Heather has Transitioned’: Transgender and Non-Binary Contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race - K. Woodzick
5. How Drag Race Created a Monster: The Future of Drag and the Backward Temporality of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula - Aaron J. Stone
6. RuPaul’s Drag Race: Between Cultural Branding and Consumer Culture - Mario Campana and Katherine Duffy
7. RuPaul’s Franchise: Moving Toward a Political Economy of Drag Queening - Ray LeBlanc
8. Legend, Icon, Star: Cultural Production and Commodification in RuPaul’s Drag Race - Laura Friesen
9. Repetition, Recitation and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo: Miss Vanjie and the Culture-Producing Power of Performative Speech in RuPaul’s Drag Race - Allan S. Taylor
10. It’s Too Late to Rupaulogize: The Lackluster Defense of an Occasional Unlistener - Timothy Oleksiak
11. ’This is a Movement!’: How RuPaul Markets Drag Through DragCon Keynote Addresses - Carl Schotmiller