RuPaul's Drag
Race stars Shangela, Eureka O'Hara, and
Bob the Drag Queen are changing the world one small town at a time on HBO's gritty makeover
reality series We're Here.
The queens
wield the power of drag to makeover people, minds, and hearts with a one night
only specialty show starring members of the local community, LGBTQ+ folks, as
well as allies—on stage together.
In PRIDE's
chat with the queens, alongside show creators Johnnie Ingram and Steve Warren,
the transformative powers of drag are on full display.
The premise of
the show "really resonated big to" Shangela, she says, "because
I kept thinking, 'Wow, if I would've had this when I was growing up in
my small town, what an impact it would've had on me.'"
Taking the
full spectacle of drag to these small towns uplifts the LGBTQ+ community there
who might feel alone or misunderstood. At the end of the day, it showcases the
power of representation.
Bob relates it
to watching Bebe Zahara Benet win her Drag Race crown on
national television. "Seeing someone on RuPaul's Drag Race being
celebrated for everything that I had been told was bad about me (she's lack,
she's queer, she's fem, she's a drag queen) and people on TV were giving her
accolades, telling her she's gorgeous, she was brilliant," she reflects.
"By finding the drag community, I found a way to use everything that was
ever used against me to be a benefit to me. Every detriment had become an
attribute."
Of course,
being an unscripted series exploring small towns, everything wasn't just
rainbows and butterflies. Episode one catches a moment after the queens leave a
store and an angry patron calls them "freaks" and promises never to
return. And in Branson, Missouri, a store owner calls the cops on the
queens.
"It was a
shock, but it was also a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do in
regards to pushing ourselves farther on the spectrum of acceptance,"
Shangela reflects. "We get celebrated so much by fans and different people
that we meet that going into these spaces, these conservative towns, was truly
a sobering reality. It brought us back to what it's like for a lot of LGBTQ people
on a daily basis."
The power of
the series lies in queer resilience. These towns aren't the Drag Race workroom,
and many LGBTQ+ people's identities aren't celebrated or even acknowledged. But
to find your own joy, strength, and pride within yourself, in spite of the
world's shortcomings, is a superpower.
Watching Bob,
Eureka, and Shangela share their superpowers with the people in these
communities is a cathartic experience, and a moving lesson in empathy and human
connection, something many of us are lacking while isolating in our homes
across the world. And while they might not have been able to get every
townsperson on board with their mission, Warren says the trying is a step in
the right direction. "Even though we haven't necessarily won their hearts
over, we're engaging in showing a face and being present and being
visible."
The pandemic
derailed the original plans for tonight's finale, so instead the queens will
dig deep into their own stories. Eureka teases that they'll also get to
showcase some of the leaders of the queer communities they visited that they
didn't get to show previously.
"It's a
great way to show people that we're getting through it together," Eureka
says, calling it a "powerful shared experience."
The season
finale of We're Here airs tonight at 6pm ET/9pm PT on HBO!
SOURCE: PRIDE DOT COM
What a wonderful concept. I hope it truly is unscripted. Small towns are such piranha pits. Seriously ugly little places for the most part with people guarding their territory (their place in the town) and clinging to weird tribal beliefs. Scary. Very brave of these queens, but then HBO has their backs, so they were never in danger. What a wonderful way to educate and enlighten. It would be like fairy godmothers dropping in to remind everyone that the world is not horrible and there is magic to create. I would watch this in a hot second.
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