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The issue of appropriation is again taken up by Chuck Kleinhans in “Taking Out
the Trash: Camp and the Politics of Parody.” Through comparative readings of
kitsch, trash, and camp films, Kleinhans looks at the ways queer discourse has
infiltrated contemporary art production by providing lures for the un-queer
spectator to assume queer spectating positions, as well as providing clever spaces
for the accommodation of subtextual gay readers. Kleinhans’s view of Camp
borders on the utopian because of the promise it holds for effecting change and
transformation in the dominant discourse. Yet, his is an almost eco-Camp in that
the alternative that the queer proposes to consumer culture is a vast
representational recycling program. According to Kleinhans, this recycling of
representation constitutes the radical politics of Camp: if you cannot invent the
game, then you can certainly reshuffle the deck.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION 17
I wish to thank Terry Kapsalis, Northwestern University, for her many comments
on and criticisms of this essay.
1 The writers in this volume alternatively use the terms “queer,” “gay,” “lesbian,” or
“homosexual” depending on historical and cultural context, or to achieve particular
effects and focus within an individual essay. Some of the examples of Camp
discussed are problematic as regards the selection of appropriate labels. For
instance, Liberace who, according to the working definition given in this
Introduction, might be considered a quintessential queer because of the
performative constitution of his identity, has been described both as “homosexual”
and more often as “gay” because of the social contexts in which he worked.
2 In order to distinguish between different constructions of Camp, the following
usage has been adopted. When Camp is conceptualized as a politicized, solely queer
discourse, an upper-case “C” is used. When an un-queer, apolitical, or Pop culture
version of Camp is referred to, a lower-case “c” is used. The only exception to this
occurs in cited material where it was mandatory to follow the spelling of the
original text. For example, Susan Sontag, in “Notes on Camp,” used an upper case
“C.” But according to the rule of usage employed in this volume, Sontag’s version
of Camp, because it is an apolitical formation, would be spelt as “camp.”
3 My rethinking of Camp was based on observations of Joan Jett Blakk’s Chicago
mayoral campaign in 1991, before Joan announced her candidacy for the United
States presidential election in 1992. My interpretations of the two campaigns are
different. Comments about the mayoral campaign do not necessarily reflect my
thinking on the presidential campaign.
4 I have cited Jonathan Dollimore in this regard because he is exemplary of the most
contemporary writing on Camp.
5 Writers ignore issues of appropriation in different ways. George Melly recognizes
the gay origins of Camp, but fails to question just how Pop culture was able to
wrest the discourse from this context (161). Andrew Ross’s conspicuous erasure of
gay identity in his essay, “Uses of Camp,” constitutes an active depoliticization of
Camp that leads to an articulated denial of Camp as a gay critique (137, 142–144,