UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations
UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Critical Crossings: Intersections of Passing and Drag in Popular Culture Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/81j0h4fx Author Marsan, Loran Renee Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Critical Crossings: Intersections of Passing and Drag in Popular Culture A dissertation in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Women’s Studies by Loran Renee Marsan 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Critical Crossings: Intersections of Passing and Drag in Popular Culture by Loran Renee Marsan Doctor of Philosophy in Women’s Studies University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Juliet Williams, Co-chair Professor Douglas Kellner, Co-chair My dissertation, Critical Crossings: Intersections of Passing and Drag in Popular Culture, offers an innovative study of the political possibilities of two related performative strategies: Drag and Passing. “Drag” refers to the excessive performance of feminine gender, i.e. drag queens, but more recently has been linked to other parodic performances such as blackface. “Passing” originated in the post- and antebellum eras when mixed-race African-Americans passed as white to escape oppressions. It denotes the believable portrayal of another identity, usually racial or gendered. Both have long been topics of media representations. Probing where and how they are used differently in popular culture yields insight into the operation of identity, engaging such issues as the social construction of authenticity, performance, and the “real.” I argue cinema and television have changed how drag and passing are deployed, such that what ii passes for reality and authenticity comes into question while the purposes and functions of drag and passing are also changed.
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