[ExI] camp statements

[Damien Broderick]

At 06:57 PM 6/23/2007 -0600, Brent wrote:


>I've added two of my current favorite movies, including some crude 
>starts to some camp statements.  I hope that if anyone agrees, they 
>will join our camp, moving it up the list, and help out a bit to 
>improve the camp statements.

You might want to reconsider that term, or risk having people snigger at you.

wikipedia:

Camp is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad 
taste or ironic value.

A part of the anti-academic defense of popular culture in the 
sixties, camp came to popularity in the eighties with the widespread 
adoption of Postmodern views on art and culture.

"Camp" is derived from the French slang term se camper, which means 
"to pose in an exaggerated fashion." The OED gives 1909 as the first 
citation of "camp" in print, with the sense of "ostentatious, 
exaggerated, affected, theatrical; effeminate or homosexual; 
pertaining to or characteristic of homosexuals. So as n., 'camp' 
behaviour, mannerisms, etc. (see quot. 1909); a man exhibiting such 
behaviour." According to the OED, this sense of the word is 
"etymologically obscure."

According to writer and queer theorist Samuel R. Delany, the term "a 
camp" originally developed from the practice of female impersonators 
and other prostitutes following military encampments to service the 
soldiers. Later, it evolved into a more general description of the 
aesthetic choices and behavior of working class gay men. Finally, it 
was brought into mainstream use (and transformed into an adjective) 
by Susan Sontag in her landmark essay (see below). [etc etc]