Home and Identity
I agree with Roberson and her thoughts in “Home and Away” that The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert is set up in a way to frighten those who wish to venture into the outback. The outback is depicted as lonely, stark, and dangerous. The music that is played while the camera captures landscapes is very wild, full of echoes, and frightening. This combination creates an unwelcoming outback. Moreover, since the characters in Pricilla are mainly gay and transsexual the music and landscapes of the outback especially frighten them. In addition to the music and landscapes identity based off of identity to be created based on opposition. The gay and Australian are defined through opposition to woman, immigrant, native, and outback masculinity within the film. For example, Bob’s Asian wife is an extreme woman. She loves the attention of other men. At the bar she walks straight in and starts dancing on top of the bar. After a few projections of ping-pong balls Bob gets angry and takes her off the bar. Before Bob’s wife started dancing the drag queens attempted to perform but were not accepted by the bar crowd. This scene shows that even through the drag queens are Australian they are less acceptable in the outback compared to an immigrant. Another bar scene in Pricilla shows that gay isn’t as accepted as a woman is in the outback. When they arrive at a hotel to spend the night they three queens go to the bar downstairs. When they enter the bar everyone stops talking. Politely Bernadette asks for drinks but a woman interrupts her. The woman says the bar doesn’t serve people like them. This masculine woman with her tank top and armpit stains opposes the gay/transsexual identity of the drag queens. In an outback bar, masculine women are allowed but gay men are not. Using identity to show the non-conforming culture of drags in the outback allows Pricilla to frighten those who venture away from home and into the Australian outback.