Upon release of her 2002 studio album Stripped, pop vocalist Christina Aguilera revealed a grittier, urban persona. During the album’s promotion, a toned, tanned Aguilera sported piercings, dyed, black dreadlocks and a noticeably pronounced street slang—all of which, she claimed, was a reflection of her truer dual identity as individual and artist.

The singer’s grittiness translated into the product of the album’s first single, Dirrty, prompting a mixed reaction among pop purveyors, fans, and critics who would question the direction of Aguilera’s music and career. Artistic “transformations” do not guarantee victory, indicative by slumping sales amid a fickle, impatient, and largely white American market.

Today, imagery surrounding an artist’s music is as important as the lyrics and production quality.

American female impersonator, singer, and actor RuPaul has built a career beyond metropolitan gay nightclubs, infiltrating mainstream mediums with disco-tinged tunes and haute couture drag. The result is a non-threatening, carefully crafted, lean, sexy, leggy, confident blonde bombshell who has endorsed make-up products, appeared in movies, including her own television shows.

Part of RuPaul’s appeal has been a consistent message of self-empowerment and the embracement of individuality. And while RuPaul’s alter-ego, a black man named RuPaul Andre Charles, has moved beyond his earlier, meager beginnings, those influences often seem far removed from RuPaul, the performer.

In RuPaul’s music video “Looking Good, Feeling Gorgeous,” the path to self-fulfillment takes a detour, getting a much-needed boost from cosmetic surgery. Though it’s uncertain where such enhancements fit in the life of the man that is RuPaul, the video’s opening character, a large, black female, embraces the opportunity as deserving “because I’m pretty on the inside.”

According to Martin Roberts, “This new self must be liberated rather than being imposed from the outside” (237).

Campaigning for surgery to create an outer beauty, the video character chides, “I want a nose to look like a Jackson, lips to be thin, (and) lighten my skin” so as to “give me what I need so I can look pretty,” with looks compared to that of singer Beyoncé. “Looking good, feeling gorgeous, that’s what I want to be.”

 

Hegemonic values are displayed throughout the video: the black woman who wants to appear lighter, the black “female” nurse with the grey-pale face, and the white male doctor with washboard abs. Then, there is, of course, RuPaul, transformed from the opening character to a woman with a slimmer nose, pale skin, and blonde hair exclaiming, “How do I look?” She looks, well, svelte and gorgeous, embodying the physical attributes of the hegemonic idea of femininity. Susan Bordo writes “…the appeal of slenderness is over determined in this culture; we worship the slender body because it evokes so many different qualities that we value” (460).

As viewers, we are transfixed on RuPaul’s uncanny yet authentic appearance, and forget about the former fat lady except for a few brief glimpses capitalizing on the before and after. Unlike the public’s rejection of Aguilera earlier, we accept this.

Those unfamiliar with RuPaul may miss the gender-bending performance, identifying her as another pretty face. Her look is the reincarnation of so many beauties before her, half-tributary, half-mimicry, always entertaining. While some may view RuPaul as freakish, there is a nod of respect and dignity to all women, real or otherwise.

Given the constraints in fleshing out a story within a five-minute video, we must accept that the RuPaul character’s make-over, even one so complex, could be done in just five minutes. This certainly doesn’t help the cause to diminish and debunk such quick fixes as acceptable make-over alternatives.

Bordo, Susan. Twilight Zones: The Hidden Life of Cultural Images from Plato to O.J.. Berkely: Univ. of Calif. P, 1997.

Roberts, Martin. Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Poetics of Popular Culture. Eds. Yvonne Tasker and Diane Negra. Durham: Duke UP, 2007.

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