ABSTRACT
Our understanding of Camp changes with the evolving history of gay subculture. The conditions and contexts for Camp differ in pre-Stonewall, post-Stonewall, post-AIDS, and contemporary Queer moments. To contribute to the current discussion, I want to explore three concepts-mass culture, subculture, and parody-through several perspectives. First, using a commercial boardroom and bedroom film, The Betsy, for elaboration, I discuss how a parodic stand to mass culture is present in a trend I call self-aware kitsch, and how it both draws on and potentiates Camp readings. Next, I consider Camp as a parodic strategy originating from gay subculture which provides an impetus for subtextual reading. Then, a further specification emerges from examining a variety of intentional Camp which celebrates casual excess through a deliberately crude and offensive content. Films such as Trash, Multiple Maniacs, and Thundercrack highlight the need for a political critique of Camp and a further analysis of parody as a strategy of subcultural resistance in contemporary media.
