Ten Years of RuPaul's Drag Race: How RuPaul Changed the Game
Graphic by Angela Cheng. Image via YouTube
About ten years ago, a new show entered the entertainment space. It was a reality talent competition that was centered around a theme that had lived mostly on the fringe of the mainstream: drag. A term coined in the late 1800s in the theater community to describe when a man would play a character in women’s clothing, their gowns ‘dragging’ along the floor. The term has grown since then to describe an entire community and culture, where people will dress in traditionally extravagant and over-the-top female costumes as forms of entertainment and empowerment. Usually, these costumes are accompanied with complete personalities attached to them. Cross-dressing or drag awareness was faintly, if ever, given attention in pop culture, with major platforms given to gender-ambiguous pop stars in the 1980s like Boy George or characters like Frank N. Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show or Divine in Hairspray. That was the case until the legendary RuPaul entered the pop culture scene, bringing with her drag awareness and celebration to the forefront of American entertainment.
Since RuPaul’s hit single Supermodel (You Better Work) in 1994, her star power has only risen. Before RuPaul’s Drag Race began in 2009, she had a 1996 talk show that ran for over a hundred episodes on VH1. Such a major platform for a drag queen was unheard of at the time. When Drag Race started with its first season, it immediately caught the attention of a wide audience, made up not just of members of the drag or LGBTQ+ community, but of fashion, entertainment, and reality TV lovers around the world. In addition, it had finally allowed a space for up-and-coming drag performers everywhere to take their talent to the national stage. No longer were shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent the only programs defining the reality talent competition space. In its 11 seasons since 2009, so many iconic looks have come out of the show, from Violet Chachki's fall runway in season 7 where, in a single unbuckle of a belt, her black gown transformed into a flannel jumper to Yvie Oddly's Zodiac Lion costume in season 11, which was made entirely out of circuit boards and metal.
Image via Yahoo
The latter of the outfits inspired thousands of memes on social media, proving the influence the show has on pop culture. In addition to fashion and entertainment, the viewers are shown a more personal and vulnerable side of the lives of the performers on the show. RuPaul’s Drag Race has allowed us into the struggles, triumphs, and inspirations of the drag world.
RuPaul’s Drag Race has also spawned a slew of spin off shows, jumpstarted the careers of dozens of influential drag queens, and created an international platform for drag appreciation — RuPaul’s DragCon will open in the United Kingdom in 2021. Many of those who go through the show have become lead influencers in the drag world and larger entertainment sphere.
Image via TeenVogue
Since the start of this show almost ten years ago, drag has undeniably been given a stage and an ability to inspire and influence that the community has never seen before. In the upcoming years, one can only hope this growth of drag representation and appreciation will only continue to grow.