Alternative Drag in the Media

The forefront production that is the incubator of alternative drag performers is definitely the Boulet Brothers' Dragula. Season 2 of the series first aired on OUTtv on Halloween night (because when else?) in 2018, with Season 3 announced for early 2019.

Check out this official clip from the series introducing the queens of Season 2:

While we're talking about Dragula, here's an interesting video from two seasoned queens - Raja and Raven - from the Drag Race franchise doing their weekly "Fashion RuVeal" critique show on an episode of Dragula. This video is interesting because these two queens typically critique DragRace and that flavor of drag, but don't seem out of their element at all when looking at the terrifying demon-queens on Dragula.

Neither Raja or Raven have performed drag in quite the same way as this, yet there is an undercurrent of relatability within the drag community that puts performers more or less on the same playing field. In other words, the critiques and references are universal and all housed in the same arena of conversation. This trait is a unique aspect to the drag world.

This two-queen talkshow format is catching on as an accessible and easy-to-execute style of YouTube social video. Two other Drag Race veterans, Trixie Mattel and Katya started their own show called "UNHhhh" that originally was produced by Drag Race's company World of Wonder. After this initial success they then landed their own show on Viceland, titled "The Trixie and Katya Show." Trixie and Katya are the first queens to land a show of their own by an external mainstream media company of this size.

Trixie and Katya's show on World of Wonder has gained a bit of a cult following. The loose but fun editing (the Mortal Kombat scene on this episode alone is award-show material) and full-length availability of the show on Youtube. After transitioning to Viceland, the content available on YouTube was just a limited portion of the show, prompting some fans to sound off on how they "sold out."




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