Please be considerate with your kitsch
"Priscilla reminds us that diversity is not a single thing but consensus of multiple and potentially conflicting groups and identities. We need, however to find ways to bring these differences into constellation, without erasing them and without privileging one difference over others" (Robertson, 284).
With this quote, Robertson crystallizes my own sentiments on the methods that Priscilla utilizes to situate a place in society for individuals one may encounter when leaving the known road, and traveling into the 'outback'. Throughout Priscilla, 3 individuals (who lie outside the hetero-normative confines) encounter gross exaggerations/stereotypes of 'others'. There is the oversexed voyeuristic mail-order-bride, the nearly mute aboriginal peoples, and a angry and violent butch woman. Their interactions with these non-normatives allow the 3 travelers to justify how frightening the road truly is. Although the 3 embody stereotypes in their own right, certain scenes allow them to appear the "normal" ones, while those they encounter on the road are the "frightening/perverse".
The bar scene where the mail-order-bride performs illustrates this notion. While the travelers calmly prepare their makeup/costumes, the bride paces her home manically. She is locked away, too savage and perverse for human eyes. The men make their brief and poorly received number. The crowd reacts, but not in a way that suggests they are put off by the qualities that make the travelers 'non-normative'. Instead, they seemed unimpressed and bored. However, when the bride takes stage, the crowd erupts, suggesting that they are also savage and wild because they react so positively to such a spectacle. This turns the travelers into the normative figures. The road houses the likes of the performer and the crowd, who are both perverse in their own rights. The men react to the situation with either disgust or laughter at the sheer madness of it all.
In this manner, Priscilla uses stereotypes to situate them in a place of normalcy. The travelers can justify their adherence to urban settings by profiling those who lie outside its borders to be wild and perverse/