Publication Date

2021

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Rodgers, Diane M.

Degree Name

M.A. (Master of Arts)

Legacy Department

Department of Sociology

Abstract

While mainstream tides in the drag industry have largely come to signify the art form’s growing popularity, there exist multiple alternative artists and communities who have yet to find space for their expressions to thrive and find praise. The Boulet Brother’s Dragula is constructed out of such need, giving a space to alternative, radical, or “monster” drag artists who have experienced the pains of ridicule, alienation, and alterity in both queer and heteronormative spaces. Prior research on drag artistries has often glossed over alternative drag artistries, comparing them to popular or heteronormative representations while also focusing disproportionately on gender presentation. Synthesizing a framework based in perspectives of social monstrosity, bodies and embodiment, and queer media representation, I engaged in a content analysis of the first three seasons of The Boulet Brother’s Dragula.Through my engagement with these texts, I designate The Boulet Brother’s Dragula as an alternative media platform where radical drag artists may engage in critical, co-(re)construction of monstrosity and elevate their subjugated queer experiences and knowledges in a space of allowance and praise. Through the system of the platform the artists are revealed to engage in multiple subjective embodied practices, with the queer, monstrous body emerging as a prime opportunity of radical expression and representation of overlooked humanities. This project offers a necessary exploration into a multiplicity of alternative drag artistries in a space created for and by alternative artists, shows new opportunities of radical queer representation, and explicates a unique perspective of queer monstrous bodies as embraced and affirmed opportunities of queer self-expression.

Extent

139 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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