We independently assess all our recommendations. Purchases through our links may earn us a commission.
Drag has been around since the time of Ancient Greece, but it’s shifted across the centuries from simply men impersonating women on stage, to the all-gender art form that we know today.
And though drag queens seem to be everywhere nowadays — from the RuPaul’s Drag Race empire to some red-faced senator’s latest unhinged bill — it wasn’t always this way. Let’s take a trip back in time to trace the history of drag in media.
The First Queens on Screen
The first drag queen on screen was vaudeville performer Julian Eltinge, who was like the RuPaul of the early 20th century.
Unlike many female impersonators of the time, Eltinge’s act wasn’t a caricature of a woman. Instead, he would sing, dance, and do several female roles so convincingly that at the end of his performance, he would shock audiences by removing his wig.
By 1914, a few years after narrative movies became mainstream, Eltinge starred in silent movie versions of his Broadway shows The Crinoline Girl and Cousin Lucy.
His first real on-screen success was 1917’s The Countess Charming, where he played a man who impersonates a Russian countess in order to be closer to his beloved Betty and, along the way, steals a bunch of rich people’s belongings and donates them.
He went on to do other movies in drag, like The Widow’s Might (1918) and Madame Behave (1925).
Eltinge’s style of female impersonation made many wonder about his sexuality, though he contrasted it with a hypermasculine look in public.
The art of drag became more associated with the LGBTQ+ community at the height of the Pansy Craze, which was led by an openly gay performer in Gene Malin who — unlike Lestra LaMonte, Helen Morgan Jr., and other acts of the time — preferred to appear flamboyantly and effeminately in tuxedos and top hats.
Malin was known as the “Queen of the Pansy Craze.” In the 1933 film Arizona to Broadway, he played Ray Best, a female impersonator who dressed like the American actress Mae West.
The Lost Years
Drag representation on screen was cut short with the arrival of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934. Also known as the Hays Code, it banned extramarital sexual relations and same-sex relationships from being shown in movies. Impersonating other genders was included under its ban on “sexual perversion.”
Enforced for the next two decades, the code reflected real-life prejudice against and unjust policing of drag culture and the LGBTQ+ community.
Drag queens and queer people persevered off-screen, and in the 1950s, things began to change. Hollywood movies were threatened by the rise of both television and European films that were not bound by the Hays Code and therefore were free to be more sexually provocative.
It was also during this time that Christine Jorgensen, the first American to be known for undergoing sex reassignment surgery, became an instant celebrity. Aside from using her platform to advocate for transgender rights, she also served as the inspiration behind the 1953 film Glen or Glenda.
Directed by Ed Wood, the semi-autobiographical docudrama was about closeted transgender people who dress up in drag.
One of the final blows against the Hays Code was 1959’s Some Like It Hot, a rom-com that starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. It explored homosexuality and cross-dressing, which meant that it was not granted a certificate of approval. The film was screened anyway, and became a critical and box office success.
Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot (1959).
In 1968, the Hays Code was officially replaced by the Motion Picture Association Film Rating System, which is still in effect today.
Queens Coming Out
Though the stigma against drag and the LGBTQ+ community continued, the death of the Hays Code meant that more movies and television shows were able to feature drag queens on screen.
For instance, the 1968 documentary The Queen featured drag queens participating in New York’s Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest. This era also produced some of the queer cult classics we know today, including John Waters’ Pink Flamingos (1972) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).
A California-based drag queen, Lori Shannon, starred in three episodes of the CBS sitcom All in the Family between 1975 and 1977 as the drag queen Beverly LaSalle. The role is notable for its respectful and sympathetic treatment of transgender people.
In 1977, Outrageous! told the story of Robin Turner, a gay hairdresser who finds both freedom and success when he steps into his drag identity as Tallulah Bankhead.
A year later came the Franco-Italian comedy La Cage Aux Folles (also released as Birds of a Feather). In it, a gay couple runs a nightclub that features drag entertainment, with one of the partners being the star attraction. Chaos ensues when their straight son decides to bring home his fiancée and her ultra-conservative parents.
In 1982, Dustin Hoffman starred in Tootsie, where he played an actor who transforms himself into a woman to land an acting job. A critical and commercial success, the film was empathetic to the struggles of women, alongside those who do drag.
The Modern Era
I’m no historian, but I’d say the modern era of drag queens in media began with RuPaul Charles’ first TV appearance — a small role as a dancer in The B-52 1989 music video for “Love Shack.” Her hit single “Supermodel (You Better Work)” would come out just four years later.
The ’90s ushered in a slew of movies featuring drag queens and drag culture. Among them are:
- Paris is Burning (1990), which chronicles ’80s ball culture in New York, and has become a must-watch LGBTQ+ documentary.
- M. Butterfly (1993), where a French diplomat assigned to Beijing in the 1960s starts a 20-year affair with a Peking opera performer, unaware or willfully ignorant that traditional Peking opera roles are performed by men.
- The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), about two drag queens and a transgender woman on a road trip through the Australian outback, which became a worldwide hit — bringing a positive portrayal of LGBTQ+ individuals to a mainstream audience.
- Wigstock: The Movie (1995), a documentary on the 1994 edition of Wigstock, the annual drag music festival held in New York in the ’80s and ’90s, featuring RuPaul, Crystal Waters, Deee-Lite, Jackie Beat, and Leigh Bowery, among others.
- To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995), featuring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as New York City drag queens on a cross-country road trip.
- Flawless (1999), in which a retired security guard suffers a debilitating stroke and undergoes singing lessons with his drag queen neighbor as part of his rehabilitation.
The turn of the century brought us even more movies and TV shows with drag queens — most notably, RuPaul’s Drag Race. Since its premiere in 2009, the franchise has only grown bigger and better, spawning international Drag Race editions and bringing conversations on trans rights and drag herstory to a more mainstream audience.
RuPaul’s Drag Race has also propelled drag queens into stardom. This not only helped Drag Race alumni create their own TV shows and movies, but it also opened the door for non-Drag Race queens to tell stories about themselves on screen.
Here are some of the TV shows and movies featuring drag queens and drag culture since the 2000s:
- Kinky Boots (2005), about an unlikely partnership between a straight-laced shoe factory owner and a drag queen.
- Pageant (2008), a documentary about the queens of the 2004 Miss Gay America Contest, which include would-be RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Victoria “Porkchop” Parker and Alyssa Edwards.
- RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009-), the world’s biggest drag reality series, where queens compete to be America’s next drag superstar.
- Parole de King! (2015), a documentary on the drag kings of France.
- Hurricane Bianca (2016), starring Drag Race winner Bianca Del Rio as Richard, a teacher who, after being fired for being gay, takes revenge by returning to his school in drag as Bianca.
- Cherry Pop! (2017), a comedy about a wild night in a failing drag club, starring Bob the Drag Queen, Tempest DuJour, Detox, Mayhem Miller, and Latrice Royale.
- Pose (2018-2021), Ryan Murphy’s gorgeous, ambitious, and heartfelt tribute to New York City ball culture of the ’80s and ’90s.
- Shit & Champagne (2020), where a drag queen takes revenge on the largest sex, drug, and back-to-school clothing ring in the country for her fiancé’s murder.
- Queens (2020), a whodunit comedy web series featuring Toronto drag queens looking to compete at the “Miss Church Street” pageant.
- We’re Here (2020-2022), a Peabody Award-winning reality show where Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and Shangela recruit small-town residents in one-night-only drag shows across the country.
- Drag Me To Dinner (2023), a competition among drag queens hosting dinner parties, judged by Neil Patrick Harris, Bianca Del Rio, and Haneefah Wood.
Serving Looks and Defiance
Through the centuries, drag has subverted what audiences across the world think they know about gender and social norms.
Despite today’s moral panics about drag — and with them, thinly veiled efforts to roll back LGBTQ+ rights — drag artists have shown time and again not just their ability to serve looks, but also their long and storied legacy of defiance.
