The Drag Culture

Drag is a form of art defined by predominantly men transforming their personalities and appearance into a different feminine character althogether and performing before an audience. It is a more exaggerated and fierce form of representation of oneself. They plunge inside their psyche and pull out an alter ego , character or a personality they connect to, the most. It exists since the time of Shakespeare and one such example can be seen in one of his very famous works ‘As You Like it’, in which Rosalind donnes a drag character,Ganeymede,to woo Orlando. As defined by Shakespeare the use of the word ‘drag’ refers to dragging of the long costumes and dressesput on by men while potraying a female character in theatres.

Drag queen: It is a general term given to a female character, donned on by a man while performing a drag. A general view limits the performersof the drag to transgenders or to people of the LGBT community but it goes beyond these prejudices.Performing drag is usually associated with gay men. However,it also includes straight men whoidentify with their determined gender, offstage. Drag kings are female performers who dress up as and potray a masculine figure. The prevelance of drag king performances are relatively less as compared to drag queens. Drag artists are addressed by a unique stage name,making their character more eccentric.

A cult reality show by the most famous drag queen of all time , RuPaul Andre Charleshas an instrumental role to play for the increased awareness about the drag art. His reality show “ RuPaul’s Drag Race” has been a hit and has changed the history of Drag. It airs internationally in UK, Canada, Israel, Australia and The Netherlands. Drag culture dates back to 19^th century, it was restrained to underground drag in the 20th century and became more popular by the 1990 in U.S.

All that goes behind creating the quirky look for a drag performance, the most significant part of a drag, can be really exhaustingand can take into as long as three hours. A drag performance offers liveentertainment which includes comedy,satiring the character donned by the artists.

Drag Culture in India
It is still not readily acceptable to most. Performers are ridiculed and laughed at. A man channelling a more feminine personality is still not well received by the people. Most drag performers in India are attributed to either prostitutes or a trans. However,the Indian society has started to acknowledge the presence of the unconventionaldrag culture brewing up among the clamour ofthe conventional sidelines of our culture. There have been increased number of drag artists emerging from India, lately.

One of the best examples of drag performances has been on excessively famous ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’. Yes! The characterspotrayed by the ace comedians Sunil grover( Guthi), Kiku Sharda( Palak) and Ali asgar (Dadi) forms for the drag performances. The characters potrayed were caricaturish, scripted, inspired from every day life and thus were accepeted readily and loved by the viewers. However, the drag does not always seem to be a representation this much subtle; the reason it is not celebrated much as an art form.

A video by QUINT NEON explains the drag culture as explained by some of the famous drag artists from India: