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魅力四射的敢曝: 南.戈丁1970年代初期的變裝皇后攝影 Celebrating Glamorous Camp: Nan Goldin’s Photographs of Drag Queens in the Early 1970s

作者
劉瑞琪
Author
Jui-Ch’i Liu
摘要

南.戈丁(Nan Goldin, 1953-)在美國當代藝壇以拍攝波希米亞性少數邊緣次文化聞名,本文聚焦於她1970年代初期的變裝皇后(drag queen)攝影,開拓性地援引敢曝(Camp)論述,結合具體的視覺分析,並輔以電影研究中的明星研究理論,跨領域地將這些照片放到石牆(Stonewall)起義前後的敢曝美學、政治與歷史脈絡解讀,以凸顯它們前所未見的動人美感與力量。本文將探析,戈丁所攝公領域的變裝皇后,以維妙維肖的劇場性變裝來矇混過關(pass)為魅力四射的女人,這種在警政監控社會陽奉陰違的雙重性策略,既能感召同志社群團結對抗恐同社會,又能拆解異性戀社會性/別本質論。戈丁拍攝變裝皇后在半公開的次文化酒吧以及私領域,經常捕捉他們表裡不一、甚至移花接木地仿效好萊塢女明星,以敢曝眼界(vision)打造另類同志認同與性情感。她也誇大造作地凸顯變裝皇后與所仿效女明星的不一致,既顛覆了性/別本質論的霸權假設,又以攝影媒介拓展了敢曝幽默的新向度,並且呈現了同志的幽默存活策略。

Abstract

Nan Goldin (1953- ) is widely heralded for her photographs of sexual minority subculture. This paper concentrates on Goldin’s photographs of drag queens in the early 1970s. In order to shed new light on these images, I would like to systematically interpret these photographs through Camp aesthetics and politics forged around the Stonewall uprising. I will also apply star theories and studies to elaborate these drag queens’ Camp imitations of glamorous divas in film and fashion photographs. By so doing, I aim to produce innovative visual analyses of these photographs, which embody visions and strategies of Camp duplicity. Goldin captures drag queens in public domains, passing for beautiful women in order to reduce the risk of arrest. By shooting and sharing these photographs with witty messaging for insiders, Goldin was able to unite a community in the face of a homophobic society. These insiders could also grasp their subversive potential vis à vis heterosexual sexual/ gender essentialism. Goldin also photographed drag queens in a semi-public drag queen bar and private realms, creatively capturing their imitations of Hollywood female stars with a double allegiance. On the one hand, these drag queens affectively celebrate their own feminine identifications with the female stars’ glamorous looks, even sexual feelings. On the other, the incongruity between their imitations and the female stars not only undermines the sexual/ gender essentialism of heterosexual hegemony, but also creates ingenious visual practices of Camp humor and powerful political interventions exhibiting a survivalist strategy of homosexual wits.