Sunday 11 May 2014

The Meaning of Conchita Wurst

Eurovision is merely the continuation of politics by other, musical means. Usually, the popular perception is of nepotistic voting, of kindred nation supporting kindred nation. Witness Greece and Cyprus, the Scandinavian countries, and so on. Another persistent trope is to read the blunt force trauma of geopolitics into the granting of points. Everyone east of the Vistula, for example, habitually votes Russia because Papa Putin will turn off the gas otherwise. Or so the argument goes. But last night something different happened. The blocs of old melted as gender and sexual politics came to the fore. Against the backdrop of Belarus and Russian protests, hostility at home, and homophobia from a fellow contestant, Austria's Conchita Wurst swept the board and lifted the Eurovision crown.

Rise Like a Phoenix is a great song, and was the best on offer last night. But even had it not Conchita's victory would have been the most positive possible outcome, especially in light of the above (though it's worth noting Armenia's Aram MP3 later apologised for his remarks). There is a ugly homophobia abroad at the moment, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia. Much like the new misogyny, I believe it's a reaction to the normalisation of same sex relationships and "non-traditional" ways of living. Except in the East, it is being seized upon and reinforced legislatively by bigoted, authoritarian politicians. You have to ask yourself why such people are obsessed with what goes on in others' bedrooms.

Of course, Eurovision is no stranger to gay culture nor it to the contest. We all remember when Israel's Dana International struck a blow for trans acceptance way, way back in 1998. Her entry was accompanied by talk that it could spark civil war between secular/liberal and orthodox Israelis. I'm not entirely joking. Nor was last night the first time Eurovision has played host to a drag act. Verka Serduchka represented Ukraine back in 2007. It too caused protests, but ostensibly because Serduchka sent up middle-aged peasant women rather than saying anything about sexuality. However, that performance was more pantomime dame than anything else and so was deemed "safe".

Wurst's revolutionary quality lies in being queer. Being queer as fuck. She's an arresting, nay stunning woman, who happens to also be a bearded man in a dress. No fake boobs. No bum padding. Her very figure takes gender boundaries and straddles them in defiance of the conventional rules of drag. Is she a man? Is he a woman? Wurst constantly keeps that question in play and stubbornly refuses to answer it, as if it doesn't matter. In so doing Wurst forces everyone ill at ease with the liquefaction of gender and sexuality to face up to their lingering discomforts and make a choice about what is and what isn't tolerable to them. Increasing numbers are taking the tolerant road, hence the signpost of history is definitely pointing in the direction of acceptance, to a destination where such questions matter no longer.

The fact Wurst's presentation wasn't a barrier to her winning and, in fact, will have contributed toward that victory in a major way sends out a clear progressive message. For the 160m Europeans who tuned in, for those in Belarus, Russia and elsewhere who have to hide their sexuality and gender identities, it shows them a possible image of their own future, that the countries to the west are riding a cultural wave of acceptance that will eventually wash up on their shores too. As painful and frightening things are now, the bigotry Putin and co are egging on are the death spasms of moralities and norms on their way out. There is every chance that after last night, the distance between it and its final resting place has foreshortened.

(NB 1. Co-author creds are due @catherinebuca - some of these ideas are hers).

(NB 2. 'Conchita Wurst' means 'Vagina Sausage')

14 comments:

Robert said...

Well I'm sure Putin's shaking in his boots. I guess confronting the Yanks over Ukraine will be just a warm up act compared to drag queens on Eurovision.

Apparently the Russian public gave Conchita third place.

Phil said...

Come now Robert. For a man who stakes part of his legitimacy on the promotion of a (strangely homoerotic) masculinity, Conchita has rendered some cultural assistance to liberal, progressive and socialist oppositions to this ridiculous man.

The fact Russians rejected official whinging & homophobia might also cause some of Putin's allies to reflect that their roots aren't as deeply embedded in the country's culture as they think.

Robert said...

I always thought Putin's shirtless stunts ought to make him a gay icon.

Putin's spending more money on the welfare state whereas Britain has Atos so in some ways Britain may be less humane than Vladimir's empire. It all depends which vulnerable unpopular minority scapegoat you belong to, gays or "scroungers"

Also there's so much hypocrisy and arrogance in Western foreign policy and the official narrative about Putin that in some ways I find myself warming to the bastard.

Alex Ross said...

Just don't look at the Facebook comments under the Eurovision page...many seem to have been removed (one calling for the gassing of gays with a photo of the SS attached). Many of the nastier comments were obviously Russian but not exclusively so (some Greeks and some very British sounding names). I really, really struggle to see how people can express such vitriol over a beard and dress combo?

Simon said...

I wish that last comment were true Phil, but it's not that simple. Putin knows exactly where his support base lies - in the vodka-guzzling, less educated classes who see him as a hero. And he is a hero to the 80% or so who are his demographic - and these are not the sort of people who watch Eurovision. The chardonnay-drinking set who watch Eurovision aren't Putin fans to begin with.... the real question is why only third place?

Simon from Moscow...

Phil said...

'Conchita Wurst' means 'Vagina Sausage'

Typical bloody man, even appropriating the one thing he definitely hasn't got...

I thought Conchita was magnificent & a very worthy winner - it's nice to see Eurovision on the right side of history!

I think there's still a discussion to be had about the politics of drag, though. (And this is a drag act - Tom Neuwirth doesn't get up in the morning as Conchita.) What's going on when a man takes on a female identity by adoping the trappings of the most reactionary, gender-polarised, high-maintenance, physically restrictive version of the 'feminine'? Put a woman in that gorgeous dress with the hobble skirt - or in one of Grayson Perry's party frocks - and you'd have a fair slice of what feminism's been against for the last 40 years.

Anonymous said...

It would have been nice if the Eurovision crowd would have shown some support for those heroic souls in the East of Ukraine who are risking their lives to demand something as simple as the right to vote.

But no, forget their rights, let them all go to hell because Russia have gay rights we don't like!

Eurovision is for philistines anyway, one of the worst spectacles since the Romans threw people to the lions.

Phil said...

How do you know they weren't? I'm sure the boos for Russia had everything to do with the ongoing situation.

Anonymous said...

"How do you know they weren't?"

Erm, they didn't boo Ukraine!

But what can you expect of people who turn up and pay money to watch Eurovision, those folks are lost and never coming back.

Phil said...

Shock horror, in the absence of serious mainstream coverage of the problematic character of Ukraine's government, people's boos flowed with the dominant Western media narrative.

EFComrade said...

Will you be writing a follow up article analysing the difference between the judges and the popular vote at aĺl?

Phil said...

No, other things on my mind. I think everything about it has already been said, hasn't it?

Speedy said...

Nice photo ;-)

Phil said...

On the good Conchita's name, one of my other Eurovision-obsessed comrades texted me with this earlier:

"I take issue with your translation of "Conchita Wurst". I humbly propose Fanny Sausage. "Conchita" is a real Spanish name with only an oblique reference to female genitalia, unlike "vagina""

Who am I to argue with that?