ABSTRACT

In this article, we argue that the campy affectations of contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) serve as the perfect vehicle through which GIFs and memes can be created and have the potential to go viral online. RPDR relies heavily on social media for its success, and we claim that the queens who go on to establish a celebrity persona beyond the show are often the ones who fully exploit this relationship by condensing themselves into self-branded caricatures. These simplified personas, with their distinctive phrases, quirks and idiosyncrasies, can be easily captured and expressed in short GIFs, clips and memes. We argue that memeability – that is, having a persona that lends itself to becoming a meme that in turn acts as a mechanism in the production of stardom – is the online celebrity’s equivalent of charisma in the social media age. In this article, by drawing on queens from RPDR such as Miss Vanjie and Alyssa Edwards, we assert that virality and memes have become part of the celebrity-making process, as well as a vehicle to enable brand collaborations and capitalisation.

摘要

在本文中，我们认为RuPaul的Drag Race（RPDR）选手的喜好情绪是创建GIF和模因的理想工具，并具有在线传播的潜力。RPDR社交媒体的成功很大程度上依赖于社交媒体，我们声称，在演出之外继续树立名人角色的女王通常是通过将自己凝聚成自有品牌的漫画来充分利用这种关系的人。这些简化的角色具有独特的短语，怪癖和特质，可以轻松地捕获它们并以简短的GIF，剪辑和模因表达。我们认为，通俗性（即具有使自己成为个性的模因，进而成为产生明星的一种机制的模因）在社交媒体时代相当于在线名人的魅力。在本文中，通过借鉴RPDR中的皇后 例如Vanjie小姐和Alyssa Edwards，我们断言病毒传播和模因已经成为名人制作过程的一部分，并且成为实现品牌合作和资本化的工具。