DivineDemento

Anyone who’s read any of my previous blog posts will, hopefully, not be surprised to find out that I’m rather invested in queer culture. So much so, that I started a blog dedicated to queer analysis of films, books, music, celebrities…any way I can put a defiantly queer spin on any given topic, I get excited. It is a way I’ve found I can express my deep, emphatic love and pride for my community. But sometimes, being an outspoken queer activist (if I may be so bold to give myself that title – God knows there are many who are more deserving) means questioning and criticising things that happen within your own community. Our community is not perfect, and often things we hold sacred need to be challenged when they’re not up to task. For a while now, RuPaul’s Drag Race has been such a cultural phenomenon. The show has done wonders for introducing positive representation of queer and gender non-conforming people into the media landscape. It was perhaps the first show to portray drag pe...

As America in the 1970’s was being confronted with its own twisted and sordid underbelly, Britain was grappling with being a nation in a gradual state of decay. At a time of civil unrest, financial strife and cultural escapism, two musicals combined the time’s adoration for shock,   gender bending and glamour with a twisted warning to all outsiders. *Warning - Spoilers Throughout* In my first post I explored the reaction against the corruption of early 70’s American culture in contemporary exploitation cinema. Though the tension in Europe was different to that experienced in America (which was derived more from America’s decreasing status as a financial and political superpower), tensions still ran high throughout the early 1970’s. In Britain, this was particularly felt – recession, inept governments, civil unrest and the ever-encroaching threat of Cold War loomed over the public consciousness. LikeAmerica, Britain fought in, and embarrassingly lost, several battles and c...

In 1972 and 1974, Pink Flamingos and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were two of many American movies that exploited the nations fear of social and moral collapse. Both films depicted families living in violation of our most basic ideas of dignity. So why does Divine, and her family of misfits, inspire generation upon generation of queers and outcasts, whilst Leatherface continues to inspire terror? I would wholeheartedly argue that Pink Flamingos , the breakout hit for both director John Waters and the original Drag Superstar Divine, is the most important queer film of all time. Its reputation is legendary, the level of disgust it inspires infamous. It follows Divine and her misfit family, who are hiding out in a trailer somewhere outside Baltimore. They are forced to put their peaceful existence of hold when Connie and Raymond Marble attempt to steal Divine’s title of ‘Filthiest Person Alive’. What results is an ever-escalating tornado of taboo-breaking acts, including singing s...