Straight Camp: Heteronormative Appropriation in But I'm a Cheerleader

Caitlin Delohery

Camp has long been used as a queer strategy for resisting the prevalence of heterosexual ideals in media; the political function of queer camp lies in its ability to make misconceptions of commonly held beliefs about gender and sexuality transparent through exaggeration. However, when camp itself becomes common, as is the case with mainstream proliferation of queer stereotypes based on camp performances, it loses its political power. The problematic of this changing face of camp can be seen in But I'm A Cheerleader. The film relies on gendered stereotypes for its camp appeal. In part, this strategy is effective in exposing the performative nature of sexual identities and genders; to accomplish this, the film particularly relies on "straight" drag, the performance of heterosexuality by marked homosexual characters. Underneath the straight drag, however, there are blatant stereotypes of gays and lesbians. Since we are familiar with these images because of their proliferation in the media, these stereotypes are not called into question, but rather reified, manufacturing an ostentatiously coded world of male/female, straight/gay, good/bad. I will use Cheerleader's artistic and political strategies to exemplify why, in a media saturated society largely denied transgressive queer representations, some campy portrayals of queer characters serve to reinscribe patriarchal and heteronormative perspectives on identity as well as contribute to queer alienation.