Narrowing down our favorite moments from RuPaul’s Drag Race can be challenging (to say the least) but author (and now Drag Race historian) Maria Elena Fernandez has done exactly that with the new book “And Don’t F&%k It Up: An Oral History of RuPaul’s Drag Race (The First Ten Years)”. Fernandez detailed everything from the first moments on-screen for the inaugural cast to the more buzzed-about moments for noted queen like Asia O’Hara, Sasha Velour, and Tammie Brown. I sat down to chat about the book with Fernandez where we were able to chat not just about the wonderfully detailed bible she has crafted on a cornerstone of pop culture, but also about the impact that Drag Race has on the world today.
Michael Cook: When did you first fall in love with RuPaul’s Drag Race?
Maria Elena Fernandez: From the very first season, even before that. The first I heard of it was at a press event in Los Angeles. It happens twice a year and shows put out press conferences to announce themselves. RuPaul was there with three of the queens from Season 1 and did a very unforgettable press conference. It piqued my interest and I started watching the show. From Season 1, I fell really in love with the show. I think I went in thinking that it would be fun, romper room fuckery and outrageousness left and right.
What I found was that it had the humor and entertainment value, but it really also reflected on the human condition and the things that people go through to be themselves, and the hardships that people sometimes face trying to be themselves. Seeing the werkroom transformation and how powerful people became, once the makeup and wigs were on, you could sense that freedom that everyone had within themselves to be themselves and to be exactly who they wanted to be. It was forty-five minutes of a show and had all of that; how could you not love that?
MC: As you did the work on the book, is there any one moment that made you look at one of the queens in a completely different way?
MEF: Laganja Estranja, definitely. In watching Season 6. I was not much of a fan of Laganja. I found them irritating and annoying and very performative, and the other queens reacted. That was my reaction until I talked to Laganja for a really long time. They talked about their insecurities and as a young queen who grew up in the reality tv age. They went into the show very aware of reality show tropes and what it takes to make a show fun. They had planned certain things like the death drop walking in, wearing the ceramic pot holder, all of those things. They actually planned them in advance to make fun tv. Laganja saw it as “my role is like I am an actor on this show and I need to make content”. They were very surprised when people reacted in the way that they did, not understanding that.
The reaction was that “you’re fake, you’re not being yourself” and that is not what Laganja was trying to do; they were trying to participate in a tv show in the way that they understood it best. When they explained what happened after the show and how they had a mental and emotional crisis because of the way people reacted to them. They explained how they grew and understood why people reacted that way, why they came off that way and how they became a better person for it. Laganja really turned me around.
Laganja is not the only person playing up to a camera trying to cause trouble just to get an extra ten minutes, and of course, that’s smart; that’s smart tv.
MC: Is there anyone that you didn’t get a chance to talk to that you truly had on your wish list?
MEF: I probably would put The VIxen at the top of that list. The Vixen is someone that brought something really important to RuPaul’s Drag Race and the fandom, outside of the show and the way that the fandom reacts to queens. She was very brave in bringing up some issues in the way that she did and I would have loved to have talked to the Vixen now to see what their perspetive is now a few years later on how all of that went down and if they think they made the difference they wanted to make and what else was behind that story.
I admire the Vixen; to be such a young person and have such a strong sense of self and what is right and wrong. That really came across on the show and I would really want to hear more about all of that.
MC: Are there any experiences from the first decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race that you did not get to include that you may want to include in another iteration?
MEF-I think we covered all of the important things that the fans would like to know, fun little tidbits about productions in the early seasons and how “Ru-dimentary” it all was. I really can’t think of something that I did not include!
MC: As someone who has now written the essential bible on RuPaul’s Drag Race, how do you see RuPaul’s Drag Race moving forward as the show comes close to almost two decades on the air? Drag Kings are spoken of so frequently, and the show is now showcasing both trans performers as well as cisgender drag performers.
MEF: I think what you just touched on is exactly where it’s headed and it needs to. We’re in almost sixteen season and we have had eight All-Stars and the world has changed during the time that Drag Race has been on the air. Our understanding of gender and identity is vastly different since 2009 when the show came on. The history of drag was more inclusive anyway, it ws never meant to be only man to female transition. I think if the show wants to stay on-and I think it does-embracing the whole rainbow is where the show is going to need to go. You see it happening; Sasha (Colby) just won, and we see that that is where it is headed.
MC: In your spare time, are you out at the clubs seeing the drag shows?
MEF: I love drag shows, I’ve always loved them. It’s interesting to me, I don’t know why. I grew up in Miami and live in Miami now. As a young adult, I loved going to South Beach on Sundays. The entertainment value of drag has always been interesting to me and something that I loved to watch. It was only through the show that opened my eyes to what drag is underneath. I’ve always loved going to drag brunches though!
MC: Your perspective is so unique; how do you see what’s going on with drag being so villainized in our society right now and make any sort of sense with it?
MEF: It doesn’t make any sense. It’s very painful and it’s very disappointing. When you think about the Obama years, gay marriage-finally-becomes something accepted as a right that people have and then now where we are now, not that many years later….
We planned the book not in this era, we planned it during a time of society being more open accepting and people not having to hide. Then the book comes out and we’re in a state where there is anti- trans, anti-drag, books are being banned of all kinds, really scary and unfortunate times. And I had thought “What a time for the book to come out”, but its turns out to be the opposite.
MC: What did you find on the day that the book came out?
MEF: On the day the book came out, I went out to see if it was on bookshelves and I went to Books and Books and Barnes & Noble. Several people that I was talking to said how important it was that it came out now and it was a “gift for pride”; and I hope so. I hope when people read it, if you’re a fan of the show it’s fun to revisit things and learn some things that you didnt know that happened on the show.
What I am hoping is that people really take away from it that we are all people. We all love and suffer and laugh and cry in the same ways and that we all have things that we carry with us that we are trying to improve and trying to formulate within ourselves; and that we all deserve a chance. When you read these stories and you hear of people triumphing and the love of the community, that is what is beautiful about what Drag Race has done-it has created a safe space for people who may not have had anyone else. I hope they see that all of this legislation and all of these things happening in society make no sense and and that they will vote accordingly so that none of these views take hold.
MC: As we wrap up the first ten years of RuPaul’s Drag Race, are possibly going to get a second iteration?
MEF: Oh boy! I would do it, if they asked me to. I just can’t fathom starting today (laughs)!
‘And Don’t F&%k It Up: An Oral History of RuPaul’s Drag Race’ (The First Ten Years) is available now
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