Serviceim
Nollendorf
FOTO: PARK CIRCUS/MGM STUDIOS
Reflections
FOTO: HENRY LAURISCH
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is turning 25, and SchwuZ is bringing the Australian cult classic back to the big screen. Drag queen Olympia Bukkakis explains the film in the context of her homeland
Olympia Bukkakis
SIEGESSÄULE presents SchwuZ Sommerkino: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (AU, 1994), Aug. 14, 21:00, Freiluftkino Hasenheide, English with German subtitles
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was one of my earliest exposures to a life that I would one day lead. It, along with guiltily snatched glimpses of the television coverage of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, was one of very few representations of queer and trans people that I encountered growing up in rural Australia. Looking back at the film from our current vantage point is complex. We can valorize the filmmakers for representing queerness at a time when it was still acceptable to ostracize people like us, and we can also condemn them for a lazy, racist and misogynist portrayal of a Filipina. We would be justified in both cases, but films like Priscilla also tell us about the societies that produce and respond to them. It's interesting to see how critics have fumbled over the role of Bernadette (Terence Stamp) for the past 25 years. Viewers have gone from referring to Priscilla as a film
about “three men in frocks in the outback“ to talking about “two drag queens and a transgender woman“. This shows increased efforts to understand and respect trans people but also reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of drag and trans identities. In fact, the film portrays three drag queens: two cis men and one trans woman. Trans people have always played a part in drag history, even if subjected to transphobic bullying, such as when Felicia (Guy Pearce) relentlessly dead-names Bernadette, which is unfortunately played for laughs. Still, after re-watching the film, I am impressed with how faithfully this dynamic is represented, especially given that critics are still tripping over themselves to put it into words in 2019. But the real specter haunting this film – and all of white Australia – is its colonial past. The play on the word “queen“ and the representation of the white gender non-conforming body in the desert evoke the cheerful and brave responses of queers and trans people to their oppressive living conditions but also the violent colonization of Australia. The actual queen of the titular desert lives in a palace in London while Aboriginal people constitute an incredible 84% of the Northern Territory's prisoners, despite making up only 31.6% of the Territory's population. In 2016 it was revealed that Aboriginal children suffered conditions amounting to torture in juvenile detention centers and Aboriginal deaths in police custody are shockingly common. These facts make up the legacy of Priscilla just as much as the legalization of gay marriage and increasing acceptance in metropolitan areas for white gay men and lesbians. Ultimately, Priscilla is a mirror for us, then and now. How we tell our stories, and who gets included in them, is the result of a continuing cultural battle about who gets to be a person, who gets agency and who becomes a cheap joke – or merely a feature of the landscape. I hope for a time when drag queens, Indigenous Australians, migrants and everyone else who shares my homeland enjoys justice and self-determination.
Kiez
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FOTO: PARK CIRCUS/MGM STUDIOS
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