The Boulet Brothers: The Evolution of Drag

“We’re more like overlords from a horror movie than beauty queens — our drag is not what most people think of when they think of drag queens.” -The Boulet Brothers

If you’ve been on Netflix recently you may have come across a drag competition show called Dragula. For years the world of competitive drag has been dominated by RuePaul’s Drag Race. But, drag is evolving and Dragula is the next generation of competitive drag. The show showcases the darker boundary-pushing drag that hadn’t previously been seen in mainstream media.

Dragula was created by the spooky and enigmatic Boulet Brothers, Dracmorda and Swanthula. This dark duo have been honing their craft for well over a decade, creating and promoting events for artists who, like themselves, don’t conform to the current expectations of drag. The LA based queens started Dragula as a club pageant but in 2016 the pair released a competitive version of the show on youtube. It emulated much of the format of RuePaul’s Drag race but the Boulet Brothers added gruesome, terrifying challenges and the contestants embodied the show’s guiding principles of “drag, filth, leather, and glamour”(Boulet brothers).

Dragula has fulfilled an important role in the drag community. It gives a platform to unique styles and seeks to expand the possibilities of drag. One huge accomplishment of the show was featuring a drag king, Landon Cider, as a contestant in the third season. Landon was the first Drag King to appear in a mainstream show. Female drag performers are seldom remembered in upper-level drag competitions, so Landon’s inclusion and subsequent win showed that drag kings have a valid place in drag.   

The Boulet brothers have added inclusivity to the burgeoning world of mainstream drag and drag will grow as an art form because of it. Dracmorda addresses their motivation, saying: “We felt deeply outcast growing up, so being able to provide a place like this for other disenfranchised gays put a smile on our faces”. The brothers had a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The lack of acceptance they felt early on was an extrinsic motivation to create a space for themselves, while the joy they feel supporting others like them is purely intrinsic.

Currently, Dragula fans are anxiously awaiting the fourth season of the show which was expected this fall but has been postponed due to COVID. I, for one, am most excited to see what ghoulishly glamourous outfits the Boulet’s have in store.

*I apologize for the highlighting, I cant get rid of it*

 

Sources:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/vbyjm3/dragula-is-loud-weird-and-pisses-on-heteronormativity

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8541256/dragula-season-3-winner-landon-cider

https://www.laweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/052319.pdf