"}i\u2019ve been thinking and talking about camp pretty frequently lately since nina west is on drag race this season (she runs the columbus drag scene, i\u2019m obligated) and there\u2019s just such a vast gulf between her and yvie on one hand and everyone else on the other, and that difference boils down in part to nina\u2019s age but it also boils down to camp, camp, camp
and one thing that\u2019s incredibly central to camp, as performed by nina on the show every week, but which i haven\u2019t seen talked about much in the met gala thinkpieces, is the element of the grotesque. there\u2019s part of camp that is fantasy, but there\u2019s also part of camp that\u2019s taking the culture and spitting it back in everyone\u2019s faces and telling them to go suck on that
john waters, folks! john waters! anyway maybe there\u2019s less appetite for that kind of open, radical confrontation as LGBT people\u2019s position in society shifts compared to where it was in the\u00a0\u201870s. but it\u2019s also hard to be grotesque on instagram. which is a shame, it\u2019s a loss
this also helps explain why as a female celebrity the only thing you need to do to attend a camp-themed gala and look like you belong there is just, like, be more than 40 years old and show up. society\u2019s already decided you\u2019re grotesque!