The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was one of a kind when it hit theatres in 1994. The story of three drag performers, one also a transgender woman, made inroads not only in the Australian Outback but also in mainstream cinema. No matter the arena, the cast of Priscilla was hard to ignore. “I really was not making a gay film full of politics,” director Stephan Elliott assures, “I was making a celebration of gay life.”
A daring film to make in the mid-nineties, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert came out of the gate to immediate acclaim at Cannes in 1994. In the 30 years since its conception, Priscilla has achieved the status of a cult classic, won the hearts of viewers within and without the LGBT community, and brought forth a jukebox musical which is still doing the rounds today. A stunning introduction of the fun and beauty of drag to a wider audience is what made Priscilla so special, as well as showing queer characters in starring roles. The script does not reduce them to schlocky archetypes or suspend them in misery for the sake of a story. Priscilla let its characters have depth: it shows the joys of being queer, while not glossing over the tribulations of being oneself in a hostile society.
From Sydney to Alice Springs
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert follows drag performers Tick (Hugo Weaving), Adam (Guy Pearce) and Bernadette (Terence Stamp) as they make their way across the remote Australian Outback to reach Alice Springs, where they will perform at a hotel/casino managed by Tick’s ex-wife. You can already see where things might start to go wrong.
Priscilla confronts the prejudices of small-town mentality. With three drag queens – as good as aliens to those they encounter – travelling through the heart of rural Australia, it is hard to ignore. Vandals spraypaint the eponymous bus, dubbed ‘Priscilla’ by Adam, with homophobic graffiti. A group of typically ‘macho’ men hound and beat Adam, out alone at night in full drag. The road to Alice Springs is paved with misfortune and disagreeable encounters. Priscilla breaks down. They get lost in the desert. They are harassed, questioned, made to feel unwelcome.
And yet, Elliott concedes that it is not all bad. In the middle of the desert at night with nowhere else to go, an Aboriginal tribe welcome the three onto their land. They gladly watch their show – they even join in on the fun. A man one might expect to be hostile to the three (Bob) takes a shine to Bernadette, and joins them on the final leg of the journey to Alice Springs. Tick’s estranged wife, Marion, has no qualms about her husband’s profession and identity. Elliott refuses to leave his characters miserable for long, always reaching into the plot to hold them up at the last minute. It is refreshing, even now, to see queer characters rewarded by the narrative surrounding them rather than punished.
Having made it to Alice Springs in one piece, Tick faces one final hurdle: reuniting with his eight-year-old son, Benjamin, whom he fears will reject him once he sees his show. But this is Priscilla – Tick need not fret for long.
Reunited with his son, Tick sees that his fears were unfounded. Benjamin greets his father’s sexuality and drag with acceptance, if not outright enthusiasm. Relieved, Tick agrees to take Benjamin back to Sydney with him, hoping to get to know him. The ending runs the risk of being mawkish, but it saves itself by leaning into the same campy, seductive charm which coats the rest of the film like the layer of lavender-coloured paint Adam hoses Priscilla down with to cover up the graffiti. Adam finds something of a kindred spirit in Benjamin, singing at a bemused Tick as he drives them back to Sydney in Priscilla. Bernadette also meets a happy end, choosing to depart Tick and Adam in favour of remaining in Alice Springs with Bob.
Creating Priscilla
I really was not making a gay film full of politics. I was making a celebration of gay life.
Such was Elliott’s position following a negative reception at the film’s first audience test in San Fransisco. Elliott attests to expectations among LGBT audiences that he would have dealt with issues such as the HIV crisis, or included sex scenes. Audiences accused Elliott of “laughing” at LGBT issues, or being squeamish about depicting gay relationships with the depth they felt they ought to have been.
However, it is not as if Elliott neglected these issues. The graffiti on the bus makes reference to AIDs; Elliott shows the reality of homophobic violence through Adam; Tick is anxious about introducing his son to his drag and his sexuality. While Elliott wanted to present characters comfortable in their own skin, he did so without feeling the need to compromise on a depiction of the bigotry of others. Joy of the self can and will coexist with the hatred of others, Priscilla tells her audience, a maxim certainly worth holding close.
For a queer film that ultimately made few compromises with a straight audience, Priscilla certainly left its mark on mainstream consciousness. The recipient of major accolades such as an Oscar for best costume design, as well as Terence Stamp receiving a handful of nominations for best actor (BAFTAs, AACTAs, and the Golden Globes), critics were willing to reward Elliott’s depiction of his community. Despite initial hostility from LGBT viewers and natural concerns that the topics might not land in the heteronormative scene, either, Priscilla swiftly ingratiated itself into a critical landscape which could have proved just as hostile as its rural setting.
Holding Up?
It is worth noting that Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce are not drag performers, nor is Terence Stamp transgender. Many a show or film has come under fire for not casting actors representative of its characters’ identities. Take Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, who now says he regrets taking the role of a transgender woman.
The lack of drag performers in the cast was not for want of trying, however. Elliott felt that Adam/Felicia would be best portrayed by a genuine drag performer – but no actors with such credentials auditioned. Elliott ultimately chose Guy Pearce, who was desperate to shake his associations with his character Mike Young on soap opera Neighbours (and what better way to shuck a typecast than with the exultant Adam, a.k.a. Felicia Jollygoodfellow?).
While it would certainly raise questions today if a casting director overlooked the strong contingent of drag performers who can also pull out a good performance on screen, one might cut Elliott some slack. It goes without saying that the openness and acceptance simply were not there to facilitate a representative cast. Before Priscilla, one thought drag performance in film and thought of John Waters’s collaborations with Divine. Films such as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Polyester, good as they are, were certainly not mainstream. Drag was – and still is – countercultural. Elliott smuggled his world into popular culture in a Trojan horse spray-painted lavender, equipped with familiar, ‘straight-friendly’ faces to ease the introduction.
Besides, Weaving, Pearce, and Stamp do a wonderful job: they are beautiful, captivating, and, above all, respectful of the art form they are trying their hand at. It is no surprise that the film’s major accolades and nods are for costume and set design. It is worth a watch for the attention to detail evident in the costumes, choreography, and makeup alone.
Priscilla‘s Adventures in the 21st Century
While of course outdated in some respects, Priscilla‘s trio of drag performers and inclusion of a transgender character brings the film up to speed with issues facing the community today.
With mounting threats to transgender rights, including increased scrutiny of transgender athletes (whether said athlete is actually trans or not), Elliott’s original perspective that the film is not political stands on uncertain ground in the 21st Century. There are few more unduly politicised than a drag performer, or a trans person seeking privacy and adequate healthcare.
With a sequel in the works, complete with the original cast as well as Elliott back in the director’s chair, it is clear that Priscilla, Queen of the Desert still has a place in the culture after all these years. The voices and stories of its characters are probably more empowered, yet also more in need of support and understanding, than ever.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is sexy, joyous, and sweet. We all need a little more of these things in our lives – it will be a service to yourself if you pay Priscilla a visit on her 30th birthday.
