I was most interesting in Babuscio’s explanation of the relationship between the gay sensibility and camp and the four features consistent in camp (irony, aestheticism, theatricality, and humor). The gay sensibility is a “creative energy” formed by a different perspective of the world based on societal oppression [1]. He believes that camp results from the response of the gay sensibility in labeling those as “normal”, and polarizing those that don’t fit the description. This reminds me of Cameron Tucker from Modern Family, and I plan on analyzing the clip below to show how each feature of camp is brought out by Cam’s gay sensibility.
In this hilariously dramatic scene, Mitchell is on the phone for help while Cam decides to grab a trash can to smash the window of the car. Irony appears when an incongruent exists between an individual and a context, the most common being masculine/feminine. Here, Cam is screaming and flailing around, an action inconsistent with what is considered “normal” under the masculine definition. His behaviors even get noted as the woman on the phone tells Mitchell to calm his wife down. Certain aesthetic elements here are used to criticize how men are “suppose” to react in stressful situations: when Mitchell corrects the lady that his screaming partner is a man, rather than apologizing or returning to the dire situation, she responds “really?”. This connects with the further point of theatricality, in which the ‘appropriate’ “role” to play in this stressful situation is the brave and fearless masculine role; however, because Cam fails to cover up his gayness and “pass as straight”, he is stigmatized by the lady on the phone. Lastly, the humor here comes from the identification that Cam’s reaction is inconsistent with what we know to be ‘masculine’. Because Cam is seen to play a more feminine role and contradicting the idea that acting masculine is natural for all men, he exemplifies the four components of camp through his demonstration of the gay sensibility.
[1] Jack Babuscio, “Camp and the gay sensebility,” in Queer Cinema: The Film Reader, ed. Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin (New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 121.
I think you’ve picked a great example of the way camp is represented in modern media with the character of Cameron Tucker. In this scene specifically, I think an additional way in which the masculine/ feminine is shown is through the fact that Cam is acting this way as his paternal insects for his child’s safety are coming out. This visceral need to protect ones child is far more commonly seen through women, as historically they are the one tasked with looking after and raising the children.
I love the example you chose because it also highlights a point Babuscio made in the second-to-last paragraph about the “painfully incongruous situation of the gays in society” and that “camp can… illustrate… contradictions that oppress us all.” The exchange between Mitchell and the woman on the phone emphasizes the societal norms regarding women as parental figures, and it challenges typical understandings of parenting partnerships.
Cam from Modern Family, and this scene in particular is a great example of this! What is really interesting to me is that in other ways he is seen as more masculine, like how whenever he watches American football he becomes the stereotypical “bro”, football watcher.
Interesting example! I find the representation of Cam a bit disconcerting in Modern Family. Sometimes his gayness seems to be the butt of the joke and it feels like we’re meant to laugh at him rather than with him. I think this is the case with several of the characters, where a lot of the jokes that they are involved in seem like they weaponise stereotypes to uncritically punch down.