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ABSTRACT
In this article, we argue that the campy affectations of contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) serve as the perfect vehicle through which GIFs and memes can be created and have the potential to go viral online. RPDR relies heavily on social media for its success, and we claim that the queens who go on to establish a celebrity persona beyond the show are often the ones who fully exploit this relationship by condensing themselves into self-branded caricatures. These simplified personas, with their distinctive phrases, quirks and idiosyncrasies, can be easily captured and expressed in short GIFs, clips and memes. We argue that memeability – that is, having a persona that lends itself to becoming a meme that in turn acts as a mechanism in the production of stardom – is the online celebrity’s equivalent of charisma in the social media age. In this article, by drawing on queens from RPDR such as Miss Vanjie and Alyssa Edwards, we assert that virality and memes have become part of the celebrity-making process, as well as a vehicle to enable brand collaborations and capitalisation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
5. We note that drag queens have been enthusiastic adopters of social media as a mechanism in constructing and maintaining a fanbase at a local level as illustrated by Jessa Lingel and Adam Golub’s research in the essay In Face on Facebook: Brooklyn’s Drag Community and Sociotechnical Practices of Online Communication (Citation2015).
13. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4715668/Gemma-Collins-shows-curves-edgy-outfit.html
18. The ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ of 2014 is a good example here of a viral clip, associated with a fundraising campaign for ALS Association that became a popular meme: http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html.
19. As we have previously noted not all memeable celebrities are pop divas. The rapper Drake, for example, is often regarded as the epitome of memeability. https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/rq5e7r/understanding-drakes-meme-appeal.
21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsXevbn6Cjc We note that Edwards’ tongue-pops have been adopted as lingua franca for the queens of RPDR. For instance amongst the queens in the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Cheryl Hole has adopted the tongue-pop as her own gestural signature.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
John Mercer
John Mercer is Professor of Gender and Sexuality in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research at Birmingham City University and leads (with Clarissa Smith) the AHRC network and Routledge monograph series Masculinity, Sex and Popular Culture.
Charlie Sarson
Charlie Sarson has recently completed his PhD and is a Postgraduate researcher in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research at Birmingham City University.
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