Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - Inspirations

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Hi all! My name’s Izzy and in my articles, I’m going to be writing about the things that influence modern day drag.

In the current drag scene, lots of drag queens focus around their aesthetic, constantly being aware of the fashion around them and coming up with different looks. However, many of these looks probably wouldn't have come about if it wasn't for the pioneers of drag. For me, the first main influence on aesthetic that I can think of is movies, and especially ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’.

If you don't know Priscilla, here's a basic rundown of the plot:

Sydney, Australia. 1994

The film begins with a silhouette, featuring a wig teased up to the heavens and an eager crowd. A few steps are

taken forwards, and the sleek, sequin gown on the person is clearly visible. The first notes of an iconic drag lipsync song, Charlene's 'I've Never Been To Me' play, and we can now see Hugo Weaving in full Sydney drag, facing his audience. Weaving plays Mitzi Del Bra, a drag queen with a child and wife that he's ashamed to tell anyone about. After the audience respond angrily to her lipsync, she decides she wants a change. She rings up her transgender friend, Bernadette (played by Terenceence Stamp) and asks her if she wants to take a little trip to the outback. Bernadette eagerly says yes, thinking it will just be her and Mitzi doing a few nice shows in Alice Springs. However, when packing, Bernadette is greeted by the personification of the future of drag, Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Guy Pearce). These three get up to all sort of antics, travelling on a disheveled bus they christen Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (clever,eh?) Priscilla unsurprisingly breaks down, but they eventually make it. They encounter many interesting people on their journey to Alice Springs, but ultimately realise that the safest and happiest place they can all be is Sydney.

Priscilla could be considered a risky film. Although it was made in the early nineties, some are still quick to criticise it for being homophobic, transphobic and racist, even though the full point of the film is to show that all these things are wrong. It could be viewed in both positive and negative ways:

However, the message of the film remains the same. It promises to 'change the way you think, the way you feel and most importantly, the way you dress.' But what about Priscilla today?

Academy Award winner, 1995. Best Costume Design

 

When looking at these costumes designed by Lizzie Gardiner and Tim Chappel, it's obvious why they are still talked about to this day. The bus scene is an iconic moment in gay film history, and to have such a beautiful costume to go in the scene really helped the audience to remember it. Although it is such a nice costume, the film crew had quite an issue trying to get it to blow in the wind, and almost scrapped the whole idea.

I'm glad they didn't though, because the iconic bus costume is used in the musical poster and logo. The display on top of the bus is just as good in the musical as it is in the film, with whoever is playing Felicia spread widely over a giant silver glittery shoe, Australian divas singing an aria from an Italian opera. Fancy.
Also, LET'S TALK ABOUT THESE WIGS. 

The wigs were designed by Maude Boate, and are practically an architectural feat. Seriously, they should be protected or something. They're built up on a frame, filled in with foam, and then adorned with whatever is suitable for the look. Such as flowers for I Will Survive.

AIDS FUCKERS, GO HOME 

 
Hearing something like this now, would (hopefully) shock people. I'm sure that when the film was released in 1994, there would have been mixed reactions from the audience.
Felicia, Bernadette and Mitzi all step out their hotel in the morning to see that someone has spray painted 'AIDS FUCKERS, GO HOME' onto the side of Priscilla.
Some in the 1994 audience could have laughed. Not because they found it funny, but because the  situation with AIDS was just beginning to fade out. It may have made them uncomfortable.
Now, if someone laughs at that part in the film or musical, (I've encountered it at the musical) they get a death stare from most of the audience, and rightly so. The film helped to end some of the AIDS stigma, by showing that not all gay men had it, and that generally all they wanted to do was have fun.

Tackarama!
The film is fuelled by campiness. It's got everything that you'd expect from a gay film. Drag queens, glitter, alcohol, popping ping pong balls out your genitalia and most importantly, A GREAT MESSAGE. I feel that the features from the film that queens take today are the colourful, fun parts. Courtney Act is a queen that represents Australia amazingly by showing her inner Priscilla. The components of the film are all fantastic to inspire her. 
The fantastic foam wigs that help to amplify the queen's camp character:

The amazing costumes:

 

And the iconic music:

These all help Priscilla live on today, and although the fun parts of the film are taken by today's queens, the message is never forgotten.


Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is currently on tour around the UK. For tickets, visit http://www.priscillathemusical.com/uk-tour/tickets/