Kitsch and Camp, the alterity of the other is the alterity of the other
As Stewart states in her essay, “kitsch and camp, as forms of metaconsumption, have arisen from the contradictions implicit in the operation of the exchange economy; they mark an antisubject whose emergence ironically has been necessitated by narratives of significance under the economy.” The female impersonation might be regarded as the kitsch or the popular entertainment in the labor market or industry economy, but their presences somehow cross the boundary of male and female, subject and the object. It deconstructs the concrete structure of labor/productivity and consumer/consumption in the order of economy exchange.
Speaking of crossing the boundary of subject and object, it reminds me that Derrida’s statement in his “The Gift of Death”. Derrida writes, “The other is the other, that is always so, the alterity of the other is the alterity of the other” (83). Hence, only “the alterity of the other” can get rid of the circulation of exchange, and surpass the economy system. Moreover, by the perspective of queer theory, camp is a life style and a body politic which challenges the male-dominated society. As Moe Meyer figures out, “Camp is not simply a “style” or “senseibility” as is conventionally accepted. Rather, what emerges is a suppressed and denied oppositional critique embodied in the signifying practice that processually constitute queer identies” (The Politics of Camp, 1994: 1).
Here are the pictures of my last birthday party at Lips restaurant http://www.lipsnyc.com/, a famous restaurant which combines cuisine and drag show at Greenwich.
