Culture Jamming (and Tucking): RuPaul’s Drag Race and Unconventional Reality

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session and Reception
  In Interactive Paper Session: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies Interactive Paper Session

Abstract

Reality television is rarely subversive, but occasionally a program enters the popular culture zeitgeist that not just contributes to the genre, but rather exposes it. Launched in 2009, Logo’s RuPaul’s Drag Race presents a case study on how occasionally even commercial television can serve as a type of culture jamming. This essay offers a critical analysis of RuPaul’s Drag Race and argues that the typical reality competition format is both exploited and exposed as a type of culture jamming that is uniquely queer. Through interviews with queer audiences, this essay also looks at how audiences understand and react to promotional realities.

Author

• David Gudelunas, Fairfield U