The Gay & Lesbian Review

ESSAY

Notes on Camp—and Anti-Camp B RUCE L A B RUCE

The content of this essay was first presented at the Camp/Anti-Camp Conference at the Hau Theater in Berlin in March 2012, curated by Susanne Sachsse and Marc Siegel. The presentation of the paper was itself intended to be somewhat camp, both in the outdated academic

style of the writing and in its mode of performance: The speaker wore black tails and glasses while writing lists of camp categories in chalk on a large blackboard. Whether or not the actual content of the paper was or is designed to be camp is entirely up to the reader to decide.

C LASSIC G AY C AMP : Carmen Miranda Mae West Joan Crawford Bette Davis What Ever Happened to Baby Jane Art Nouveau Art Deco The Catholic Church George Kuchar Franklyn Pangborn Edward Everett Horton Paul Lynde

B AD S TRAIGHT C AMP : Stanley Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada and The Hunger Games Twilight Black Swan Il Divo Star Wars Adam Sandler movies Che Guevara Damien Hirst Tim Burton movies (except Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Ed Wood) Arnold Schwarzenegger Jeff Koons Tropic Thunder Benny Hill Beyoncé Lady Gaga Baz Luhrmann

Q UASI -C AMP : Jerry Lewis’ 60s movies (The Ladies’ Man, The Patsy, The Big Mouth) Midnight Cowboy Looking For Mr. Goodbar Bertolucci’s Luna Cruising

S UBVERSIVE C AMP : Rock Hudson / Doris Day movies

Roddy McDowell’s Tam Lin Brett Anderson of Suede Pee Wee Herman R EACTIONARY C AMP : Tyler Perry Eddie Murphy Heavy Metal

Charles Nelson Reilly The Boys in the Band The Killing of Sister George John Waters movies Divine Mario Montez Holly Woodlawn

L IBERAL C AMP : Dr. Ruth Rev. Al Sharpton Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster

Candy Darling Jackie Curtis Liberace

H IGH C AMP : Oscar Wilde Jean Cocteau L OW C AMP : Vaudeville Burlesque

C ONSERVATIVE C AMP : Kirk Cameron Sarah Palin Newt Gingrich

B AD G AY C AMP : Will & Grace Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Misogynist Drag Queens Neil Patrick Harris Contemporary Broadway Musicals Certain Ken Russell Films (The Boy Friend) Perez Hilton Adam Lambert

Mitt Romney Ann Coulter Fox News The Iron Lady

Bawdy humor Moms Mabley Sophie Tucker Bette Midler’s bathhouse routines U LTRA C AMP : Mae West performing “Love Will Keep Us Together” in Sextet Elizabeth Taylor & Noel Coward in Boom!

I NTENTIONAL C AMP : The Shining Casino Royale with Daniel Craig Green Acres (TV Show)

Liberace Beyoncé Lady Gaga

U NINTENTIONAL C AMP : Lost in Space (TV Show) Eyes Wide Shut J. Edgar Valley of the Dolls The Iron Lady

G OOD S TRAIGHT C AMP : Woody Allen’s dramatic films (Interiors, September) Certain Robert Altman films (That Cold Day in the Park, Images, 3 Women) Certain John Cassavetes films (The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Minnie and Moscowitz)

Myra Breckenridge Valley of the Dolls

B AD U LTRA C AMP : Liza Minnelli performing “Put A Ring On It” in Sex and the City 2

G OOD I NTENTIONAL S TRAIGHT C AMP : Russ Meyer movies Carry On movies

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