The Time Has Come, for You to Lip-Sync, for Your Identity: Bridging the Queer
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The Time Has Come, For You to Lip-Sync, For Your Identity: Bridging the Queer Gap Between Theory and Practice Thesis RMA Musicology Vera van Buren (5539307) Feb- Aug 2019 RMA Musicology | Supervisor: Dr. Olga Panteleeva | Second reader: Dr. Judith Peraino Abstract The humanities seem to want to specialize in capturing the human experience in their socio-cultural context. It seems, however, that throughout the past decades, certain experiences are harder to academically pin down than others. The critique posed by queer people on queer theory is one example of this discrepancy. Judith Butler, Maggie Nelson, Sara Ahmed and Crystal Rasmussen are some authors who intellectually capture the experience of queerness. Especially Butler has received critique throughout her career that her description of queerness had very little to do with the real-lived experience of queer people. But, her work showed seminal in the deconstruction of gender identity, as did the works by the other mentioned authors. Despite the important works produced by these authors, it is still difficult to find academic works that are written with a ‘bottom-up’ approach: where the voices of oppressed groups are taken for the truth they speak, while academic references are only there to support their claims. In this thesis, I utilize this ‘bottom-up’ approach, testing through my case study—namely, the experiences of Dutch drag queens, specifically how they experience topics around lip-sync performances—to what extent their lived experience is in accordance with the theoretical works by which they are framed. Through interviews with Dutch drag queens, by attending drag shows, and by critically reviewing academic literature, I will test the discrepancy, or parallel, between the theory, and practice. I answer my research question in three parts; first, I measure the experiences of the drag queens and queerness, while assessing texts deriving from queer theory. Second, I asked the participants about their drag persona and representation, while looking at texts on audience participation, drag, and misogyny. Third, I asked the drag queens specifically about music, while analysing texts written from a musicological perspective, on canonization, camp, and lip-sync analysis. With this research, I want to contribute to an innovative way of conducting academic research; by creating space for marginalized voices to be the main creator of knowledge in academic research. [2] Acknowledgements My gratitude towards the next people is unmeasurable, both in mental as in intellectual support. Their contribution proved determinative to the development of this project. First and foremost, I want to thank the participants of my research: Franklin Bernabela, Tom Haegens, Tom ten Hove, Pieter Roberts, Bjorn Berendsen, and Maarten Klaassen. Without them, this thesis would merely exist of theoretical reflections. Thank you for sharing your experiences, and being so open in our conversations. Thank you to my parents, Marjolijne and Winfred, my siblings, Sabine and Jip, and my grandparents, with a special mention of my father, Winfred, who enthusiastically read the whole thesis in draft and contributed greatly with his inspired discussions. To my classmates; Marthe, thank you for co-constructing a research with me where we both searched for the right ways to interview, and implement our emotions into our research. To Andrea, without your friendship and playful dialogue, I would have never survived these past two years. To my partner Daan, who picked up where I slacked off. Thank you for always being by my side. Thank you to Daniëlle, Diantha, Marjolein, and Shakila. Friendship makes the world turn. A special thanks to all of my peer reviewers: Nicky, Nikki, Rena, Laura, Hannah, and Emily. Your contributions proved essential to ending my education on such a strong note. Many thanks to Judith Peraino, who so generously agreed to be my second reader. Your constructive criticism ensured an inspired end of my thesis. Last, but not least, thank you Olga, for proving once again to be a perfect academic match. You keep inspiring me, showing tough love where needed, and most importantly, you taught me how to create a space for myself in the very peculiar world that is musicology. Thank you. [3] Table of Contents Introduction | page 5-11 Chapter 1 | Queerness | page 12-29 Chapter 2 | Drag and Representation | page 30-52 Chapter 3 | Music | page 53-70 Conclusion | page 71-74 Bibliography | page 75-79 Appendix | page 80-109 [4] Introduction How does one get across the fact that the best way to find out how people feel about their gender or their sexuality—or anything else, really—is to listen to what they tell you, and to try to treat them accordingly, without shellacking over their version of reality with yours?1 This quote by Nelson summarizes the critique that queer people have posed to queer theory: the discrepancy between the theorisation of queerness and the actual lived experience of queer people. In our current world—and with that I mean the Western society that I grew up in, and that offers me academic works—individualization and destabilization tend to take control over discussions on identity.2 So it would seem difficult for an academic branch to cater to this subjective individuality, although queer studies did try to achieve part of that goal. It is important to occupy spaces where there was no room for oppressed voices, but what if those voices are being mis-represented or mis-interpreted? One author who is famous for both her reconceptualization of gender, as she is known for her opaque way of writing about it, even when speaking from her own experience, is Judith Butler. She famously conceptualised the theory behind the performativity of gender, coined in her seminal books Gender Trouble and Bodies that Matter.3 However, some scholars have pointed out that these books, together with others stemming from queer studies, do not fully coincide with queer lived experience. One author who, notoriously, critiqued this discrepancy is Martha C. Nussbaum. In her article “The Professor of Parody: the Hip Defeatism of Judith Butler,” Nussbaum gave an account of feminism and academia in practice, mostly focusing on how academic feminists try to deal with practical, “real” and “lived” issues, and stating that this is not displayed in the resulting work.4 Nussbaum gives a reason for this tendency in feminist academia that leans “toward a type of verbal and symbolic politics that makes only the flimsiest of connections with the real situation of real women.”5 “The Professor of Parody” is dated, since it is written twenty years ago, which is illustrated by Nussbaum’s choice in generalizing “women” as the marginalised group. Today, the importance of categorising “women” as synonymous to “biological women” is renounced by a more inclusive tendency in academia that focuses less on the gender binary. The tendency in feminist academia to theorize while disregarding practical issues, however, still stands. There are still multiple oppressed groups beyond the gender binary that try to find their way into adding their voices to the story. Such a group—queer people—does not feel fully represented by the academic literature written on the queer community and its experience, as authors like Ahmed, Mari Ruti and 1 Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts (London: Melville House UK), 2016, 66. 2 Social media individualizes a person, while feminist theory is at its deconstructive ‘wave’, where terms are being dissected and reinterpreted. 3 See the seminal works Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (London and New York: Routledge, 1991), and Judith Butler, Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” (London and New York: Routledge, 1993). 4 Martha C. Nussbaum, “The Professor of Parody,” The New Republic 220, no. 8 (1999): 37. 5 Nussbaum, “The Professor of Parody,” 38. [5] Maggie Nelson wrote about.6 That being said, I do not want to negate the works that are building bridges between the academic treatment and actual experiences of queer people, especially since this critique I pose here is not new. Queer studies as a discipline is taking up an increasing part of academia, and feminist and queer perspectives are added in multiple disciplines. However, critiques like the one Nussbaum stresses are still very much present in queer studies. Fortunately, there does seem to be an accumulating momentum for the mainstream acceptance of queer identities on the global stage, with shows like Queer Eye and RuPaul’s Drag Race as important leaders in the media.7 RuPaul’s Drag Race, a televised competition between drag queens, hosted by arguably the most famous commercial drag queen, RuPaul, creates a growing visibility of non-normative identities. When RuPaul’s Drag Race was added to Netflix, hundreds of thousands of viewers, me included, were enamoured by the glitter and glamour of drag culture. From the fabulousness displayed through costumes and make up, to witty performances and high-quality lip-syncing battles: nothing seemed to be too absurd or over the top for the show. My interest was not merely fuelled by the high entertainment value of RuPaul’s Drag Race; the show seemed to bring together many themes that I have been exploring in my academic work. For example, the participants exhibited multiple gender identities, from people who identify as cis males and perform as women—like the host of the show, RuPaul—to people whose identities are gender fluid and non-binary.8 This display of multiple genders, and the seeming acceptance of them by the audience (judging by the high viewers numbers and the number of seasons the show keeps producing) was one of the reasons I started considering the subject of drag queens as my research topic. Another is music, which plays an important role during a lip-syncing performance and, as I will argue, is used by drag queens to enact a queer or a non-conforming identity.