Aug

24

Exploring Venus Boyz

Filed Under DVDs, Drag Queens, Gay Film 

Venus Boyz on DVDA few nights ago I happened to come across a copy of Gabrielle Baur’s documentary, Venus Boyz and my mind is still spinning after having watched it.

I love Drag Queens but I’ve never been really exposed to Drag Kings, in fact the only one that I know of is Murray Hill, so I was interested to find out more about Drag Kings in general.

I was sort of under the impression before popping the DVD into the player that the movie would feature a bunch of Drag King acts in New York and London and that was fine with me because as I said, I’m interested in the subject. But it was so much more than just watching a bunch of Drag King’s perform on stage – way more.

Venus Boyz is a highly intriguing and fairly in-depth look at the world of Drag Kings and their lives. The film follows about seven main Drag Kings and a Drag Queen (2 if you count the quick exit of Mistress Formika) and explores their lives, relationships, their sexuality, gender roles and how or why they became Drag Kings.

The stories these women told were rich, interesting, and truly mind bending. They came from all sorts of backgrounds, heritages, cultures, and their experiences and sexual preferences were as colourful and varied as their acts.

Venus Boyz features Diane Torr who is also known as Danny King, Charles Beresford and Jack Sprat; Bridge Markland, Dréd Gerestant who is also known as Mildred Gerestant; Storme Webber, Del La Grace Volcano, MO Fischer a.ka. MO.B.Dick, Shelly Mars and Queen Bee Luscious (Dréd once tried to pick up Queen Bee Luscious and they’ve been friends ever since).

One of the interesting things about this documentary was that it spanned several years. I believe that the film starts out in 1996 and ends in 2001 (2002 if you’re counting the bonus footage in the special features section where there’s interviews and footage from the Locarno International Film Festival). It also took about one and a half years to plan before the first frame was shot.

Part of the reason for this large time span is because of the difficulty in getting financing for this type of film. It’s a difficult subject to tackle in the first place and it’s a difficult subject that a lot of people including in the so called LGBT community tend to shy away from.

Getting into the nitty gritty details of Drag performers seems to be uncomfortable for many. And indeed Venus Boyz can get uncomfortable, but that’s what’s great about it, because it takes one out of one’s comfort zone and asks you to take a good look at someone else’s life.

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