I’d say the point of a drag show is to entertain those who like that form of entertainment. It may not be to everybody’s taste; but then, neither are stand-up comedians, Vegas-style nightclub acts, horror movies, or musicals. Yet each has an audience that enjoys that form of entertainment. Drag shows are no different–they simply entertain those who like drag shows. There isn’t really a point other than that.
Shouldn’t the plural of Lady Gaga be like “Attorneys General”? Ladies Gaga?
Similar question: if you were to repeatedly clone Lyndon B. Johnson’s wife, would you have several Lady Birds, or several Ladies Bird?
What if you repeatedly cloned Larry Bird?
Women just don’t have the same explosive power off the line nor the stamina to keep going for the entire quarter mile. Sure, there are female drag circuits out there, but it’s about as interesting as the WNBA. Interesting for aficionados, but not as thrilling as watching the top competitors jump off at the green light.
What?
Oh…
Nevermind.
Hey, show some respect for the accomplishments of Shirley “Cha Cha” Muldowney, bub.
I imagine the crossdressers do it for fun, and a sense of power, because you have to admit that women can be and are a helluva lot more dramatical than men, generally speaking. There’s just a lot more potential, a lot more to work with; so much that even a guy can don the armor and entertain. I’m female, and enjoy the occasional show, the same way I enjoy the occasional strip bar: it’s like burlesque. It’s fun. It’s an act, and an entertainment, and I enjoy it all, possibly because I typically avoid all the drama stuff myself; it’s fun to watch other people pick up the powerball and roll with it. 
If gaffa knew Gaga
how many gagas
would it take
to make gaffa’s gagas
ladies gaga
not lady gaga’s
gaffa?
I’m thinking more of Birdcage. La Cage might have had more drag quotient. But from what I read on the wiki page, they have the same basic plot. He might normally use his skills for a club drag act, but the main plot of all, is using that professional skill to ‘pass’ as a hetero couple for the sake of the son’s in-laws. So, more essentially comedy of errors than true drag show.
I saw this as a kid (thanks Mom!) so details may be fuzzy, but one of the main plot points was some manner of ‘inspector’ making sure Victoria was ‘really and anatomically’ male. I checked wiki to confirmed my memory. Seems this takes place in France, and also, was a remake of a stage play (and also, was a lot more gay than I was capable of understanding as a child). Still, the fact that Victoria underwent an anatomical test confirms my basic premise that in that context, it was taboo for women to be on stage. Although the wiki page makes me question my memory about whether it was a general theatrical production or something meant for a more specific gay audience.
I am a gary photographer who cas covered countless events in the SF Bay area (perhaps I should do an “ask the”) And have, among other things covered many drag and drag related events. There are many parts to the whole subculture(s) so a simple answer may not work.
Part of it for the performers is, as it were, “I enjoy being a girl” actually exploring the feminine side and taking it to 11. There is also the sense of an inside joke. Note that in “La Cage” the performer removes her wig at the end as a punch line. Of course there are also women who like to dress like drag queens.
One form, camp drag, might be seen from the oft used definition of camp “the lie that tells the truth”.
The whole thing is very meta, but for instance, there is (like leather) the formal breaking of taboos and conventions is definitely part of the work. Even moreso with a big burly man in a beard and a flouncy dress (as in genderfuck) where one is obviously pretending he is pretending to be of the opposite gender. As I said, lots of meta…
Add in drag vs impersonatiion, transvestism vs transuality vs transgenderism and you could speak in tangents all day…
ETA: i forgot to ask if you meant “whats the point” from the performers’ or the audience’s view
Sorry if I seem to be rambling, it’s hard to paint a broad brush with with any accuracy
Serenata, I’d love to see that performance. To me, part of going to a drag queen show is seeing men impersonating sexy, confident women. The kind of woman other women would want to be.
Imagine my disappointment when, at the one and only drag king I attended, the women were impersonating… well, insecure, needy, zero-confidence teenage boys. The kind men grudgingly admit being at some point in their lives, and are glad they’ve grown up away from that.
That must really limit your clientele…
I appreciate you coming out like this. Not just for yourself, but for all the closeted Indiana-en-Americans out there.
I’ve not been to a drag show, though I used to know a guy who was totally into them, but it might be easier to think of them like karaoke. That is, it doesn’t have to be ‘good,’ by the standards of regular music. It just has to be entertaining.
So you can be impressed by the mad cross-dressing skills of one performer, (karaoke-equivalent: a flawless rendition of ‘An Englishmen in New York’) and laugh along with the hairy bodybuilder trying to make his way through ‘I Enjoy Being a Girl’ without cracking up. (karaoke-equivalent: a hairy bodybuilder trying to make his way through ‘I Enjoy Being a Girl’ without cracking up, only not in a dress)
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There was a slender chick in a Spike Spiegel costume at the Brewery’s Halloween party. It was approximately as awesome as one would expect.
Note to self: learn to type faster.
Then you need to rush and hire the DVD ‘Tipping the Velvet’ as an antidote. As a gay woman, can I just say, phwoooaaaar.
The point was that she couldn’t get a job performing as a woman (no demand with a larger audience), but could as a drag performer – for which she needed to be male. It was a truth-in-advertising issue, not that women weren’t allowed to perform as women.
See, that was sort of the image I had made in my head before seeing the show. That, or a twisted rendition of tango with a cross dressed, Latin-lover woman in drag, and a very feminine male cross dresser as the partner.
I was so, so disappointed.
The test was to root out fraud, not femaleness. “Victor’s” schtick was that “he” was a female impersonator. If he turned out to be a woman, “he” would have lied to his employer. Earlier in the film, Victoria applies for singing jobs and is refused not for being a woman, but because her operatic singing style doesn’t match the nightclub’s needs.
I guess my memory was wildly skewed by the fog of time. Thanks. The plot seems a little bit less interesting now though LOL.
(guffaw)
I recently watched the 2008 documentary Pageant via Netflix streaming…lots of fun, and also very interesting.