What is a drag queen? Definition of the term and examples

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Many people wonder "What is a drag queen?" due to lack of awareness in this area. There is also often confusion associated with the similar sounding of the words "travesty" and "transvestism". The former is associated with theatrical activities, and the latter is often observed in people with gender dysphoria (i.e. when a person cannot accept their sexual status). An example of this is the recent Oscar-nominated film The Danish Girl.

Term Definition

So, let's take a closer look at the concept of travesty. The definition of the term suggests that this is a type of theatrical role. It consists in the fact that the actor plays the role of the opposite sex, dressing in appropriate clothes. However, this concept is primarily associated with the case when an adult artist plays the role of a child (boy or girl).

This role originated mainly because it is rather difficult to demand from a child actor the exact execution of all the director's instructions. In addition, children grow up quickly, and performances, as we know, can go on the stage of the theater for years and even decades. In the name of avoiding the constant introduction of new child actors, they came up with thisway of playing. After all, an actress or actor can act in one role for quite a long time.

Hopefully now it's clear what a drag queen is.

From history

From the beginning of the theater until the sixteenth century, women were forbidden to enter the stage. However, no one canceled the female roles, so they had to be played by disguised men. More often they were young people (boys) or castrati (because of their thin voice).

These traditions in the European sense have long become savagery. However, some national theaters stuck to them for a very long time.

So, in the traditional theater of Japan, women still do not play. Male actors there are deprived of any age restrictions. Some Japanese have transferred their images to the screens in the cinema. For example, Yukinojo played the role of a son and his mother in one film.

To understand what a travesty is in Japan, just watch their adaptations of such works as "Romeo and Juliet", "Lady Macbeth", where all female parts are performed by men.

Types of roles

In different years, the travesty changed its appearance somewhat. In the drama theater, this concept could mean the roles of female actresses, who during the course of the action had to change into men's clothes (for example, for the sake of a pun). Examples are:

• Viola in the play "Twelfth Night". A comedy based on Shakespeare's play tells about Viola and Sebastian, twins. During the shipwreck they loseeach other. The girl, dressed in men's clothes, remains in the palace of Duke Orsino under the name of Cesario. Everything would be fine, but only Viola falls in love with him, and Countess Olivia begins to dream about Cesario.
• Beatrice in the play "The Servant of Two Masters". A girl dresses up as her dead brother to track down her lover, who is accused of murder.

It might also be interesting what a drag queen is in opera. There, of course, no one plays dress-up. This term is used in relation to the gender of parties. So, for example, if an opera singer performs the musical part of a young man, she is called a travesty.

For example, the role of the shepherd Lelya in "The Snow Maiden" was performed by the opera singer Anna Bichurina (1882), the part of Siebel in "Faust" was once performed by Elena Gribova, Margreta Elkins, Michelle Coman.

Russian artists

In Russian cinema, we often see an actor as a travesty, but we don't even think about it. Who does not remember the fabulous Baba Yaga? Her role throughout his life was played by the most brilliant Georgy Miller. And Alexander Kalyagin in the film "Hello, I'm your aunt"? These are all examples of travesty.

The Soviet theatrical and cinematic firmament had its own drag queens. For example, Yanina Zheymo, who played teenage girls all her life because of her fragile physique. Her most famous work was the role of Cinderella. At the time of filming, the actress was almost forty years old.

Here are more examples of actors who tried themselves in this role:

• Olga Bgan, who played the role of the Little Prince;
• Larisa Golubkina. In her film debut in the film "The Hussar Ballad" she played the role of Shurochka Azarova, dressed as a cornet;
• Liya Akhedzhakova. She started her career in the theater with this role.

Travesti is also widely represented on the stage. It is worth remembering only Verka Serduchka, New Russian attendants.

Foreign artists

Abroad, a drag queen is a rarity. Basically, this role is in the possession of male actors. But we can cite as an example the work of Sarah Bernhardt in the film "Hamlet's Duel", where she played the main character.

In Hollywood, the most significant roles in this role went to Michael J. Fox, who in the Back to the Future trilogy played his character (Marty McFly) at different ages, as well as his son and daughter.

And the incomparable Dustin Hoffman embodied on TV the image of Michael Dorsey, forced to disguise himself as a woman named Dorothy Michaels in order to be with his children, whom he separated from after his divorce from his wife.

Recent film credits include Eddie Redmayne's work in The Danish Girl. For his reincarnation, the actor was nominated for an Oscar.