Camp can be an attitude, a style or a behaviour and it consists of several components – exaggeration, artificiality or theatricality, breaking social norms and silliness which results in humour.
Thanks to the popularity of shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race, camp is now mainstream. This is perhaps one reason Eurovision has suddenly become perceived as cool.
This 2013 film has a lazy script and crude humour – but Melissa McCarthy’s high camp performance of outrageously dressed, highly coiffed femininity is a delight.
Many of the gowns and costumes at this year’s Met Gala attempted to capture the essence of camp, and in trying to do so missed the point of camp entirely.
Susan Sontag once wrote that the ultimate camp statement is, “It’s good because it’s awful”. But can camp go too far? To paraphrase a line from the 2001 film Ghost World, can something be so awful that…