As someone who has followed RuPaul’s Drag Race since its inception, I must say that the Global All Stars season was a rollercoaster ride of cultural clashes and linguistic misunderstandings. It was fascinating to see how the queens from different parts of the world brought their unique perspectives and drag styles to the table, but it also highlighted some of the challenges and biases inherent in such a competition.
Spoilers ahead for the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars’s first season, including the winner.
The reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is often referred to as the “drag equivalent of the Olympics,” and this metaphor has been used by RuPaul and the contestants themselves to emphasize the competition’s intensity. However, for the first time, the series actually structured a season that mirrors the Olympic Games. Titled “Global All Stars,” this season’s concept is so straightforward you might wonder why it hasn’t been done before: Gather one queen from each of the “Drag Race” franchises worldwide and have them fight to crown the world’s ultimate queen. With most contestants being finalists in their respective shows (and even those who weren’t finalists having notable fame, such as Alyssa Edwards), it appeared that this first season would be exceptional. So why did “Global All Stars” disappoint so significantly?
From a passionate film enthusiast’s perspective, it’s disheartening to note that throughout the season, “Drag Race” has been tainted by a layer of xenophobia, with fans expressing more outrage than excitement over the treatment of queens who speak English as a second language. Although instances of queen-on-queen bullying have surfaced, RuPaul’s early favoritism seems to be the main issue. Prior to the finale, Kween Kong from “Drag Race: Down Under” and Kitty Scott-Claus from “Drag Race UK,” along with Alyssa, had each won three challenges. Notably, no other contestant managed more than one win.
While it might appear that RuPaul has issues with ESL (English as a Second Language) queens, the situation is actually more complex than that. This season’s predicament seems less about personal biases, but rather how these biases manifest through the expectation of personal branding.
These ESL queens didn’t initially consider their nationality as a significant aspect of their personal brands when they first competed. However, having gone through the Drag Race machinery (either directly or indirectly under RuPaul), they were well aware of what awaited them in the Werk Room. Now, in a season hosted by an American, there’s a pressure to modify their branding to align with an American perception of their nationality, which wasn’t as intriguing in their original season and home country.
In this scenario, Nehellenia cleverly incorporated a “margherita pizza” segment into her performance, following Kitty’s joke about her Italian accent, as a way to please RuPaul, although she didn’t fully grasp the humor behind it.
In essence, Nehellenia on Drag Race Italia was famed for being emotional, which could have been used humorously in U.S. All Stars. However, she was also moon-obsessed, and this aspect first surfaced during the makeover challenge when there were merely six queens remaining on Global All Stars. Interestingly, Nehellenia’s makeover outfits were previously planned ensembles from before she joined the show, designed to highlight an element of her branding that hadn’t been showcased thus far. Remarkably, it was this challenge that earned her a single victory.
Nehellenia became the sole contender to beat the odds this season, becoming the only ESL queen to make it into the finale and never fall into the bottom on any comedy challenges. Part of that, though, was due to her (admirable) willingness to cave to Ru’s whims, saying margherita pizza at any point available to her. But perhaps the best illustration of Global All Stars’s reliance on national stereotypes was the Snatch Game, in which the majority of the queens played a character that functioned as a synecdoche for their entire country: Kitty, from the U.K., won with Princess Diana; Nehellenia was well-reviewed for her Valentino; Pythia, a Greek expat to Canada, received raves for her Zeus; and Alyssa was safe doing Annie Oakley. Meanwhile, both queens who ended up in the bottom two got there by playing characters who are famous in their home countries but not to RuPaul: Mexican queen Gala Varo played actress Laura León, and Sweden’s Vanity Vain played Eurovision’s Loreen. The queens who did well knew what they had to do: play into RuPaul’s conception of their home country by playing folk heroes, mythological figures, and national icons. Specificity, usually the lifeblood of the impression drag that Snatch Game asks for, became irrelevant.
Listen, RuPaul has always loved ethnic stereotypes. She loved them when she gave Manila Luzon a challenge win for using a Pan-Asian accent during season three, and she loved them 11 years later when she all but forced Irish queen Jonbers Blonde to play a leprechaun on Drag Race UK’s fourth season. Remember on season 16 when Plane won Snatch Game with a European pop star that Ru had never heard of? To do so, she had to avoid any references to Jelena Karleuša’s actual career and instead just play her as a vague, Slavic pop star. Michelle thought the character was made-up! That’s how you win with something Ru doesn’t know — you turn it into something she does know. And what does she know and love? Stereotypes.
The problem with the show Global All Stars, lies in the fact that the contestants can’t achieve success by relying on cultural references that are meaningful only within their native countries. Instead, they must base their performances on RuPaul’s understanding of their home country’s references, which might not align with their drag persona. For instance, consider how few American queens truly embody the concept of “America”. Alyssa is a suitable contestant for this season since she often adopts an American flag-inspired look. However, visualizing icons like Alaska, Jinkx, or Detox modifying their drag to conform to an American stereotype highlights how flawed this approach can be. These queens have established brands, but their national identity is not a defining aspect of them.
To clarify, this doesn’t mean that RuPaul is solely responsible for the problems during the season. Indeed, Kween and Kitty often disregarded queens who were learning English as a second language. However, it’s understandable why they might do so. After all, they were repeatedly told by the judges that they were the ones to focus on, and this situation somewhat mirrors the Stanford prison experiment.
Ultimately, Alyssa’s victory in the Global All Stars competition was the most logical outcome: The fans had grown disenchanted with Kitty and Kween due to their comments about Nehellenia, as well as Kitty’s lackluster outfits during the season. Despite being a strong underdog throughout the competition, Nehellenia didn’t have the track record to warrant a complete win. Instead, the queen who was richest, most successful, and best-known entering the competition took home the title. It seems somewhat anticlimactic. While Alyssa is one of the most adored queens globally, she also entered the season with numerous advantages, and no other contestant managed to gather enough momentum to challenge her. Her win doesn’t feel like a tribute to a global superstar — it feels like making amends for a season that will soon be forgotten.
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2024-10-26 01:54