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Friday, May 10, 2024
Divine Acclamation!
'My favorite part of dressing in drag is getting out of it. Drag is my work clothes. I only put it on when someone pays me to.'
When I was growing up I was a scared of men with feminine qualities. I vividly remember being a kid and seeing a trans person in the mall and being frightened to death. I think in part it was because most trans people, drag queens or feminine men in the media were written as monsters or psycho killers. There were very few positive representations on television or in film and I didn't realize at the time how important that was.
Of course my own sexuality played a role. Deep into the closet until I was in my twenties, as a kid, I spent unlimited energy trying to suppress and hide any hint of my true self. I played sports, which I actually loved, concentrated on my 'masculine walk' and focused on ensuring my 'higher octaves didn't slip out when I was happy or excited. I thought I was pretty successful at the time, but no matter how much I tried to deepen my voice, I was always in the tenor section.
My feeling towards the issue, and my feelings about drag queens began to change when I got a bit older. It started when my father and some of his friends appeared in drag at our church talent show. It was done for laughs, but it was still impactful to see my father and his friends in make-up, wigs and dresses. It really changed however, after seeing Hairspray. The film came out in 1988 and I think I saw it a couple of years later when it was release on video. I was about thirteen or fourteen and it was my mother who chose the film that weekend. It was my first introduction to both John Waters and to Divine.
Multiple Maniacs (1970)
'Divine never dressed as a woman except when he was working. He had no desire to be a woman... He didn't want to pass as a woman; he wanted to pass as a monster. He was thought up to scare hippies. And that's what he wanted to do. He wanted to be Godzilla. Well, he wanted to be Elizabeth Taylor and Godzilla put together.'
Divine was not who Harris Glenn Milstead was or who he became, Divine was who he played, at least according to John Waters in the quote above. I'm guessing if Divine were alive today things might be different. At the time, Divine was said to be a persona, one invented for Milstead's music career. I'm guessing this line of thought made it easier to be accepted by the mainstream in the 70's and 80's. Given there were not really many drag performers doing work in mainstream television or movie productions, I can understand the logic looking back.
Polyester (1981)
A suburban housewife's world falls apart when she finds that her pornographer husband is serially unfaithful to her, her daughter is pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's feet.
Pizza Delivery!
Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a hairdresser. By the mid-1960s he had embraced the city's countercultural scene and it was then he met John Waters. It was actually Waters who gave him the name Divine with the tagline, 'The most beautiful woman in the word...almost.'
Described by People magazine as the Drag Queen of the Century, Divine's movie career became interlocked with Waters. Their movie collaborations included: Hairspray, Mondo Trasho, Multiple Maniacs, Female Trouble, and Polyester.
Now that I've gotten older, I've seen most of Divine's movies and one of my favorites is 1981's Polyester. I'm guessing that Divine's character Francine Fishpaw didn't have many happy Mother's Days. Her cheating husband and two ungrateful children weren't exactly concerned about their mother's happiness. Nor was Francine's cocaine-snorting mother La Rue.
I cannot take another heartbreak. I just cannot take it! Do you think I'm made of steel.
Francine Fishpaw
It's not shocking that Francine turns to the bottle, and ends up having several fantasies while under the influence. One of the most memorable involves Francine fantasying, and masturbating to thoughts of the hot pizza delivery guy. (Paul Holland) Thankfully for Francine, by the time the film ends, her life is looking up, including finding a new romance with Todd Tomorrow, played by 50's teen idol Tab Hunter. Todd Tomorrow ends up being a nightmare, but the film still ends with a happy ending for Francine and her family.
12 Days: Daniel Craig in The Mother
A woman has a passionate affair with a man half her age, who is also sleeping with her daughter.
Today, actor Daniel Craig is definitely a DILF, but in 2003's The Mother, he was the hot young handyman who bedded May, a mother twice his age. I wish I could have found director Roger Michell's British drama to re-watch for this post. I saw it on video back in the 2000's, but my most vivid memory was of course of Daniel's delicious derriere.
I wanted to re-watch because the film wasn't an erotic tale of an older woman bedding a hot younger man. May was a complicated mother, one who's parenting style left lasting emotional scars on her children. May's life had always been constrained by the expectations of society and her husband. After he dies however, she has a chance to start again and follow her dreams of becoming an artist.
Unfortunately, her sexual affair with Darren, (Craig) is complicated because of his relationship with her children. Darren is not only a handyman renovating May's son's home, he's also the boyfriend of her daughter Paula.
To add to the complicated relationships and dynamics, Darren is also married with an autistic son. Darren does however, seem to share May's passion for art, but he also shares himself to more and ultimately, seems more interested in May's money, than being with her long term.
Mother Hens
'Twelve chicks, one cock...'
Holidays are about looking back and they often bring back memories of past holidays and time with family and friends. Mother's Day in particular can be painful, especially for those who have lost their mothers. It can also be difficult for those with strained relationships with their mothers, or who had mother's who weren't there to love, protect or care for them.
For a few years after my own mother died, I found the day painful, but now that a few years have passed, I find it a good way to honor her, and look back on how fortunate I was to have her in my life. This year however, when I was thinking about mother's day, I was thinking about the limits on how mother's could celebrate their day up until the last few decades.
Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele. The modern precedent for Mother’s Day however, is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”
Mothering Sunday was a major tradition in the United Kingdom and many other parts of Europe and usually fell on the forth Sunday of Lent. It was originally seen as a time when the 'faithful' would return to for a special service at their 'mother church', the main church near the home where they grew up.
In America, Mother's day originated in 1907 after a woman named Anna Jarvis from Philadelphia, organized groups of women together to promote friendship and health. Within five years virtually every state was observing the day, and in 1914 U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson made it a national holiday. Canada, Australia and many other countries, followed suit, although many had their own traditions to honor mothers before the official holiday was set.
Who dat?
Sadly, mothers didn't have that many options for celebrating in 1907. There were no booze n' brush or paint and sips with nude men to enjoy and attempt to draw. Yes, wealthy women could always pay for the service of a young stud, but most mother's were limited to some flowers, a homemade card or a special meal.
In the last few decades however, the options have opened up. In addition to flowers, meals and candy, there are now drag brunches, hen parties, strip clubs and those paint and sip parties to assist a mother relieve their stress and get a few moments away from the family to enjoy their day.
Mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends and cousins can gather for a paint and sip which can include a light meal, lots of wine and a hot, naked hunk to artistly ogle. Sure, the finished paintings are fun, but it's the creative process of watching a handsome model expose both their body and their vulnerability for a mother's mirth and merriment.
'Ain’t no party like a hen party!'
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