“Cross dressing is a simple term for a complex set of phenomena. It ranges from simply wearing one or two items of clothing to a full scale burlesque. From a comic impersonation to a serious attempt to pass as the opposite gender…”
(Cross dressing, sex and Gender by V.L. and B. Bullough, Introduction)
The Bullough’s assertion relates back further into to British Comedy roots, such as the traditional Pantomime drag queens or ‘Dames’ who dressed for ‘a comic impersonation’. These comical characters include ‘Window Twanky’ in the Aladdin Pantomime, believed to of first been portrayed 200 years ago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widow_Twankey).
Whereas now, after today’s consumer’s hunger for the ‘freak-show’ television (First person Media and Factual Televsion by J.Dovey). Modern documentaries such as Extraordinary people (2005 C5), Big Brother (2000 C4) and Teen Transexual (2008 BBC) could all be described as a media ‘freak-show’. This is when under-explored sub-cultures or rare conditions are exposed in greater detail for the ordinary person to leer at.
In conclusion, due to the increasing exposure of sexual orientation and issues of identity throughout the media. I think the sensitivity of the subject has grown to new levels and some representations of cross-dressing in the media, Pantomime or not, could be seen as offensive. Therefore institutions will need to be more careful not to offend in the near future when depicting both ‘comic impersonations’ and ‘serious attempts’.
As the Pantomime is very British, is this just something we, as a culture, are oblivious to the hidden seriousness?
Why then, is the lead male character in long-established Pantomimes, for example Alladin or Peter Pan, played by a female and yet not comical?
