Disneyland. . . simulacra. . . cyborg Minnie. . . Women in drag. . . all will come together Friday.

Analyzing a Parody with characters in Drag through Butler’s lense

  • “Is drag the imitation of gender, or does it dramatize the signifying gestures through which gender itself is established” (2489)?
  • Hence, as a strategy of survival within compulsory systems, gender is a performance with clearly punitive consequences. Discrete genders are part of what ‘humanizes’ individuals within contemporary culture; indeed, we regularly punish those who fail to do their gender right. (2500)
  • “As in other social dramas, the action of gender requires a performance that is repeated” (2500).
  • “Significantly, being “outside” the hegemonic order does not signify being “in” a state of filthy and untidy nature” (2494).

In the first bullet, Butler questions the imitative nature of drag, is drag parody or pastiche? For Butler, since there is no inherent gender, all gender performances are a form of pastiche, imitation done without the hopes of getting a laugh.

In the case of the DocuParody, Butler would say that since the script and characters are performing the gender opposite their biological sex in order to make the audience laugh, the drag in this case is parody. Esther’s performance as Karl Marx pimping out Miniborg, screams parody, as does myself who parodies Jean “Bau” Baudrillard. Despite being done for a laugh, the women in drag do confirm the performativity of gender. They simply wear hats, fake mustaches, and signs, and the audience starts to question their gender.

An easy way to understand it is like this: individuals who are transgendered, perform as the gender his or her soul truly is, and this performance is done, not to gain a laugh, but in order for the self (inside, mental) to become synonymous with who they are physically. The women in drag in the DocuParody, do not long to be men, one because their dressing in drag was done in order to make the audience laugh, and two, because outside the realm of the DocuParody, they will not repeat the gender performance of a dude. Gender is solidified through repeated performance, not a one time deal.
Butler would say that by questioning and shedding light on the performativity of gender will help broaden the scope of what society deems acceptable and unacceptable.

Since our society is quick to judge individuals that do not easily align themselves in a gender identity, Butler states, “Significantly, being “outside” the hegemonic order does not signify being “in” a state of filthy and untidy nature.” In other words, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Society has forced individuals to select a gender, we do not allow people to perform as they see fit. Therefore, it is society’s fault that some people do not fit into gender categories, because society created categories. Without the categories, there would be less alienation then there is now.

 

MiniBorg:  Kim who gives a stunning performance as a MiniBorg, has a robotic eye and metallic Mickey eats after finding the parts in his car after performing her ahem. .  duty.  Haraway believes in her “Cyborg Manifesto” that the cyborg is a metaphor for the duality that can exist not only in feminism but in the human body, as in the case of women of color. Butler’s belief about the cyborg correlates to Butler’s belief that gender is not inherent.  If Haraway believes that the body can house two binary oppositions, then this could reference transgendered people.  Haraway states: “Identities seem contradictory, partial, and strategic. With the hard-won recognition of their social and historical constitution, gender, race, and class cannot provide the basis for belief in “essential” unity. There is nothing about being “female” that naturally binds women” (2275). Like Butler, Haraway expresses the idea that there is nothing natural about gender to bind all women together.   Identities are contradictory, like a woman suck in a man’s body, or Haraway’s cyborg.  With the MiniBorg a little Fanon creeps in as well, since the MiniBorg makes its “self” known by asserting its self.

 
         I can’t speak for Butler, but if I had to venture a guess, I think she would think that Disneyland is set up to reinforce gender performativity to children. Disney Princesses, Prince Charming, even the mice are confined to gender roles. Butler would say that until institutions like Disneyland stop reinforcing the biological performativity of gender, children will not be allowed to act as the gender he or she feels to be, they will continue to act as the gender society wants them to be, rven a society oppressed by a fat happy mouse. I mean the picture speaks for itself; they’re the same mouse, only one is in drag, but which one?