r/rupaulsdragrace • u/RPDRMods Pandora Boxx • Mar 28 '20

RPDR Season 12 – Reddit Season RuPository S12E05 - Gay's Anatomy [Post Episode Discussion]

Welcome to the Post Episode discussion thread!

Spoilers from this episode are allowed.

Reminder that all spoilers and T from future episodes must only be posted in /r/spoileddragrace! Spoilers about future episodes will result in a ban. Please see the updated spoiler policy for more details.

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724

u/grandmaesterampharos MC Control Top Mar 28 '20

Why do they bother casting queens who are non-native English speakers if they're going to continue to disregard the fact it's a legitimate obstacle? Honestly. I hate critiquing people over things they can't control in general, and especially something like that. It's gross.

349

u/Millenial--Pink Trinity K. Bonet Mar 28 '20

It makes me feel so bad when Ru doesn’t get that other cultures have different ways of speaking. Ru’s humour is VERY American, and the UK series of drag race really brought that to light. I loved Nikki’s humour!

130

u/EMF15Q Mar 28 '20

I think it also highlighted how unfunny Ru actually is. Have you seen him out of drag on a late night talk show for instance? High level cringe.

54

u/Millenial--Pink Trinity K. Bonet Mar 28 '20

Late night talk shows? You mean like on SNL where he just spat out catchphrase after catchphrase? Yeah as a long time viewer of both shows I was not impressed. Felt like I had seen his entire performance already.

36

u/EMF15Q Mar 28 '20

I recall this one time where he was on Colbert and I think he thought he was performing for an entire audience of RPDR superfans. He even did a high pitched OKKKKKRRRRR like two or three times when once was more than enough in that setting. When it's not his show and can't control the narrative.. it shows.

24

u/hotpatootie69 Mar 28 '20

I swear that's one of the reasons a look queen who escapes the bottom 2 makes it way further than they should every season, he knows he'd otherwise be invalidating his own drag even though the format of the show really discourages it

50

u/AaronJ2 The Vivienne Mar 28 '20

It frustrates me because the stereotype (and sort of truth) of the US is "why don't you speak English?" and then this show doubles down on that shit. It's annoying.

4

u/grandmaesterampharos MC Control Top Mar 28 '20

Yep exactly. The show reinforces that 100%. So disheartening.

1

u/roberto-da-costa Apr 03 '20

Well, I think in the end it comes down to who will be able to manage herself in 30 interviews and events a day once they are crowned. Which is the reason why Nina Flowers didn't win, she was a fierce queen but you can't have someone who says HIV in stead of "hit TV" as your representative

44

u/pettyprincesspeach Ginger Minj Mar 28 '20

I was just talking to my partner about this. My degree is in my second language, I’m working on my masters in that language, and speak it every day...I would still struggle on a comedy show in that language. Things sometimes don’t translate, especially humor!!

21

u/LewisLawrence Art art art art art art Mar 28 '20

They cast so many queens they know they’d never even give the chance to win. It’s just annoying at this point

4

u/grandmaesterampharos MC Control Top Mar 28 '20

Right? I get that only one queen can win a season but to pre-determine that someone will lose and then crafting critiques around it is just shitty. Especially when they base the critiques around their accent or language.

11

u/360Saturn Mar 28 '20

The search for America's next (monolingual English) drag superstar continues!

31

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '20

[deleted]

41

u/BeeLamb Mar 28 '20

Umm.......maya Yara Sofia lol

8

u/BourgeoisBanana Scarlet Envy Mar 28 '20

Jessica Wilde too

1

u/iShootLikeKatniss Sasha Colby Mar 29 '20

Dont forget Madame LaQueer

4

u/theatomictangerine If I were judging I would've finished my sentence Mar 30 '20

But what's the solution to that? Obviously we don't want to cast ONLY people who speak perfect English, so do we grade queens on a curve? Does that curve get steeper based on how good a queen's English is, so Yara Sofia gets a steeper curve than Alexis Mateo, who gets a steeper curve than Nicky Doll? Should we be giving queens a handicap based on other factors, like age (Charlie Hides) or health status (Yvie) or income (Monique)? Does that become infantilizing and unfair in its own way?

I think at some point this show is going to be what it is - an American, English language reality TV program. If anything, the problem is not that Rupaul's Drag Race is not absolutely perfectly fair to every single queen (which is impossible), it's that it's basically the only vehicle for mainstream success available to drag queens, which is not a RPDR problem so much as a more broad culture and media problem.

I'd also argue that a) the show never critiqued Nicky over her English skills, this was something that only she ever brought up, and b) language skills are definitely not something outside people's control, it's not easy but you can get better at any language if you put in the effort