RuPaul's Drag Race: perfomance e tipificação

Abstract

This work turns to the senses present in the american reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race, to analyze how the representation of drag art and its articulations on gender identity and sexuality performed in the body materiality of drag queens of the program is constructed. The last three seasons of the main series, which were aired until 2019, were considered for analysis. The theoretical framework of the research is built on Cultural Studies and the main theories of representation, identity, gender and sexuality, through authors such as Katherine Woodward, Castells, Stuart Hall, Michel Foucault and Judith Butler. The analysis takes place through the method of cultural media analysis, using the concept of typification proposed by Raymond Williams (1979) combined with the textual analysis of Casetti and Chio (1999) in order to encompass all objectives. The discourse of the program was analyzed by the view of Queer Theory, which seeks to deconstruct the heteronormative patterns of society. As a result of the research we realize that RuPaul's Drag Race is built as a legitimized space within the LGBTQI + culture, reconfiguring the drag culture as well as influencing the construction of a queer identity, from a disruption to normative contracts and constant dialogue with pop culture, provided by its television genre. We also come to three characteristic types of drag queens presented by reality: Fishy Queen, Campy Queen e Queer.