Lawrence Chaney Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK winner sharing tips on how to excel at multitasking, (PA) September 7, 2021.
(Picture: PA)There was a moment in last night’s final of RuPaul’s Drag Race when the four remaining contestants fighting for the blessing of their glorious leader were presented with pictures of themselves as children. They were each asked what advice they would give the child in these sentimental family portraits. One by one, the tears began to clog the theatrical make-up on their face. This is the kind of cheap, effective, cloyingly basic reality TV trick which Drag Race subverts so beautifully.
You can’t present a picture of a young Bake-Off or Strictly contestant and ask them how much they dreamt of turning into someone who might one day master the cookery of croissants or how to tango. Drag Race isn’t really a talent TV show at all, in this sense, because the exterior search for the interior self is a more complex business than all that. Cooking and dancing are skills to be acquired. RuPaul and his producers can throw as much glitter, mascara, leather and lace at their contestants as they like but a central truth will remain. Drag Race is a grand metaphor for the gay experience. Seeing the contestants turn into Warholian superstars is about them being able to express themselves freely, an expression which society has historically constricted.
