Representations of drag queens in contemporary Russian film and web-based reality television

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article explores representations of drag queens in contemporary Russian film and reality television shows through an analysis of Feliks Mikhailov’s feature film Jolly Fellows (2009) and the web-based reality competition series Royal Cobras (2021) from the perspective of queer studies, namely conceptualisations of queer times and places by Jack Halberstam. The two productions, both made for mainstream Russian audiences, have been criticised at home as apolitical and derivative. The article argues that they nonetheless provide an affirmation of queer community, queer care and belonging through a configuration of queer times and places, despite the intensification of repressive politics in the Russian Federation between 2009 and 2021.