Queer Cinema
Essay One
Camp and Drag
The stylistic choices camp and drag have been around since the 1920’s. Camp is anything that falls under a category of being kitsch, cheesy, melodramatic, or low brow. It also suggests effeminacy. Drag is simply dressing as a gender opposite the gender one identifies with. Therefore, camp and drag are directly related. These elements add to the overall effect of a film and can either hurt or hinder the success of a film. There are strong elements of both in Johnny Guitar. Johnny guitar is a 1954, Western film that challenges the roles of women in the wild west. The film had a mediocre reception even though it stars film legend Joan Crawford. The story focuses on Crawford’s character Vienna who has builds a saloon out side of town and wants to build her own town once the railroad is built. However, the town’s people, led by Emma Small want her gone. So, Vienna hires Johnny Guitar for protection. This inciting incident is where the story begins. Throughout the trials and tribulations the characters face, camp and drag fuel the plot and the interactions between the characters. Elements of camp and drag are evident through the environment, and scenery and, and Vienna’s wardrobe.
Johnny Guitar is essentially a western, however the scenery slightly disagrees. There are two instances where the scenery does not adhere to the rules of a western film. The first is Vienna’s saloon and the second is the Dancing Kid and his gang’s hideaway. Both locations lack a rugged western film and do not correspond to their original definition of what they should appear to be. Johnny guitar begins with stagecoach robbery and murder. This event is seen from a far by Johnny Guitar. This sets the scene to be a typical western environment. It is dangerous, rugged, desolate, barren weak trees and a whole lot of dust. Yet the following scene that takes place inside Vienna’s saloon has quite a different feel. The inside of Vienna’s saloon is beautiful. There is a gorgeous crystal chandelier, and piano. The entire back wall is made out of beautiful rock that makes the saloon look like it was carved into the side of a mountain. Vienna’s saloon looks more like a themed resort than a rugged dirty western saloon where cowboys go to wet their whistle. Her saloon is the first camp element reveled in the because it’s beauty represents effeminacy. Saloons are supposed to be a low maintenance, safe haven from the wild west outside road. Vienna’s saloon is beautiful and lacks the edginess of typical western saloons.
The Dancing Kid’s cabin also offers a camp element to the film. The journey to the dancing kid’s lair quite convoluted. However, the entrance is complete with a beautiful waterfall that leads to the most well kept, spacious lair in the genre of western film. The water fall suggests entry to a magical world its not exactly what the viewer would expect to see in a western film. It is the exact opposite of expectation. For example in the film Calamity Jane, the main character Jane is one of the boys. She shoots, spits, and commands attention like her male counterparts. Her cabin is filled with dust, animal, skin, and clutter. It is only when her female friend comes and cleans up that her cabin becomes womanly. The Dancing Kid’s lair already is womanly. The dancing kid’s lair and Vienna’s saloon are prime examples of the camp because they express a feminine aura in a world dominated and controlled surrounded by masculinity. Masculinity is not however at all absent in in Johnny Guitar. It is expressed through drag. The first time the viewer sees Vienna she wears a pair of black pants with a black button up top, a black scarf and her hair is pulled back. It is true, “Vienna’s strength is in her gender mobility.” (Peterson 10) While Vienna’s clothes visibly give her appearance of a man, the main reason she is so dominate is she is a woman. Her strength comes from her ability to use her femininity and still remain in a stance of power. This power defines Vienna’s attitude and places her in a category that is completely out of the norm for the genre. Vienna’s essence is queer due to her masculinity. Because of this masculinity she is able to control what happens around before she even speaks and once she does it is clear she is in charge. As she barks orders, Sam says. “Never seen a woman who was more of a man. She thinks like one, acts like one, and sometimes makes me feel like I'm not.” Vienna oozes male dominance. She stands strong like a man and does not back down. Vienna wears men’s clothing through out the entire film she even puts on Turkey’s clothes when she goes to her final battle with Emma. However the importance drag plays in the film Johnny guitar is far beyond simply allowing Vienna to get an edge over the guys. Each time Vienna is in drag it shows a sharp contrast to her personality when she is not in drag. There are two key moments the viewer sees Vienna not in drag the first is she is in her nightgown with Johnny. Vienna professes her love for Johnny and she exclaims to him all the hardships she faced while he was gone se states,
A man can lie, steal and even kill. But as long as he hangs on to his pride, he's still a man. All a woman has to do is slip once. And she's a "tramp!" Must be a great comfort to you to be a man.
Once again Vienna uses her sexual duality. Vienna works because the audience empathizes with her instead of punishing her for being a sexual character. ( Peterson 10) knows that in her world it is better to be a man. Success comes easier and the price is cheaper. Her words clearly explain why she holds on to her masculinity so tightly.
The second time the viewer sees her out of drag she wears a beautiful flowing white dress. She sits at a grand piano playing a glorious tune. Suddenly the mob comes in with Turkey, one of the dancing kid’s gang members, in custody. She breaks down because the mob wants to lynch her and Turkey. She cries, she gives a speech proclaiming her innocence and Turkey’s as well but is ultimately arrested. Emma, her rival, then proceeds to burn her saloon to the ground and she is escorted to a tree to be lynched, but just in time Johnny Guitar saves her. They flee to the Dancing Kid’s cabin for safety but not before Vienna changes into her typical masculine pants and button up. Vienna shows vulnerability and weakness when she is in women’s clothing. She becomes a damsel in distress, she cries, has everything she works for taken away. This contrast proves the importance of drag in her life. When Vienna is in drag she is in power and controls what happens to her and the people around her. The events in Vienna’s life prove that in theory men possess far more power than women. Camp and drag are both strong elements that make the story of Johnny Guitar come alive. They change the audience’s expectations of what should be and what is. Camp and drag in Johnny Guitar show that femininity is only respected where is believed to be needed. Vienna’s saloon and the Dancing Kid’s cabin where accepted as effeminate because they possessed aesthetic beauty. They also both fell into a category of being places of residency, which in popular culture need a “woman’s touch”. The use of drag to give Vienna power proves that men have the power to control their lives and the lives of others. Even Emma Small, a woman who wore women’s clothing the entire film controls a mob of men. Acting masculine for these two women displays strength, boldness, and intelligence, which are not characteristics of a women in the era of the western. These two women defy the idea of Women simply being submissive and savable. Camp and drag did hinder the perception of Johnny Guitar, but it did not make Johnny guitar miss the pointless. It allowed the film to be learning tool and guide for the art of camp and drag done right and with a purpose.

Works Cited
Preston, Jenifer. "The Competing Tunes of "Johnny Guitar": Liberalism, Sexuality, Masquerade." Cinema Journal . 35.3 (1996): 3-18. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1225762>.
Roberston, Pamela. "Camping Under Western Stars: Joan Crawford In Johnny Guitar." Journal of Film and Video . 47.1/3 (1995):33-49. Web. Oct. 2013 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20688064>.
Sontag, Susan. "Notes on Camp." . University of Utah, 14 03 2000. Web. 10 Oct 2013. <http://www.math.utah.edu/~lars/Sontag::Notes on camp.pdf>.