Introduction
Susan Sontag advanced a theory of literary criticism that brought more controversy than reprieve in the literary world. The word camp was derived from the French term camper that means posing in an exaggerated manner. It later morphed into a term that was used to mean a sensibility. In her manifesto titled ‘Notes on Camp’, she sought to define what camp sensuality was and how it could be effectively used to critic works of art. In her view, the essence of camp is to love the unnatural, the tendency of the audience to be drawn to that which they are uncommon. In a series like ‘Empire’ we are drawn to Jamal ‘Jusie Smollet’ (Hamri), a homosexual character who has now become the male gay icon, for his love for the unnatural; for his gayism. At that point, we do not revert to our morals to judge the content of the movie but this artifice of an unnatural being that is drawn to other men, one that does not conform to the traditional relationship roles is what we are attracted to. The natural dictates that a man has sexual relations with a woman, not a fellow man. This is what Sontag advances in her definition of camp (Sontag 290).
Camp sensitivity is about viewing the world as a phenomenon of aestheticism. Not necessarily in terms of beauty but terms of stylization. It is about favouring style rather than the content of a work of art. Here for the first time in literary history, style was victorious over content and aesthetics was glorified over morality. We are invited to look at the irony in a piece of work, not the tragedy. In this regard, movies that sought to advance this sensuality were usually silent so that people could really enjoy the style rather than have people speak and be judged by the content of their words. The phenomenon continued to evolve with several silent versions of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray (Babuscio 40).
Sontag urges the film makers not to concentrate on the kind of the movies watched but to influence the style of criticism that will be applied to it. She rejected the old method of evaluating art on the basis of its content or its social purpose. In her view, the old methods were misguided because they tended to overlook the aesthetics that are embedded in the form of a piece of art. Judging a work of art in terms of its content implied that all art was intentional and political and sought to advance some social purpose. However, Sontag argues that this is not always the case. Art is not always so serious, and it must not be interpreted with such solemnity and seriousness. It is possible to have art that is apolitical and to lack in social purpose (Sontag , Against Interpretation and Other Essays. 55). The consequences of this assertion are that it served only to curtail the advancement of democracy in criticism. In the literary world, all opinions should be held with some form of equality, but Sontag seemed to show that some form of criticism was nobler than others. She believed in a highly specialized notion of taste, one that was restricted to the form and not the content. This form of sensibility restricts you to look at art through an extremely small looking and discourages critical thought.
This form of criticism calls us to ignore all our moral codes when we look at a piece of art. It calls us to, when we watch the pornographic scenes that pervade ‘Game of Thrones’, ignore the fact that pornography is not imbibed in our moral fibre but to revere at how the artist can transgress our moral laws. The essence of this definition is to elevate the admissibility of a work of art rather than its suitability. Consequently, we have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of pornographic materials in our time. If Sontag’s argument succeeded in any way, it was to change the culture of Americans from focussing on what is morally right or wrong to that which produced a worthwhile experience. Sontag rejects censorship as a form of curtailing people’s right to enjoy what they watch. When authorities come in to censor what ought or ought not to be watched, the judgement of the watchers is compromised. In essence, such abstractions, as the authorities should not be allowed to choose the audience’s aesthetic experience (Sontag, Notes on Camp 292).
Camp calls us to glorify a character for his ability to flout the moral laws and not judge him for that. It calls us to enjoy and appreciate without being overtly serious and although I am not against those who are serious, it looks for success in the figures that are passionate rather than serious. While she was largely criticized for her seemingly total disregard for morality, her views have come to be held true as is evidenced by the proliferation of art that could have been frowned upon or even censored some few decades back. The audience is drawn to that which is unnatural and although not all homosexuals are regarded to subscribe to the camp taste, they are indeed they present the most visible and articulate audience of camp according to Sontag.
Homosexuals can present exaggerated mannerisms and characteristics that are feminine indicating that behaviour is a performance. Gayism in today’s pop culture attempts to gain legitimacy by elevating form above content and aesthetics above cultural morals, not unlike the very essence of camp. According to Sontag, the camp aims at dissolving any moral outrage by being playful and innocent without condemning. This is further supported by Halberstam, who posits that every camp discussion must encompass the gay culture because; gayism is the epitome of what is unnatural and exaggerated (The New York Times Magazine 6). What is natural is masculinity, and when males subvert this naturalness to take up female roles, it becomes adorned and performed, the very essence of camp sensibility. Camp sensibility ushered in a new form of literary criticism which although seen to wane with time remains relevant. It is the only way to explain the exhilaration people get when they watch a film laden with suspense and irony despite the fact that it flouts most of our moral laws. It is the reason we enjoy pornographic scenes despite our cultural inhibitions. Audiences are becoming more drawn to camp things; camp movies, camp films and camp music as exemplified by fans of Madonna and Elton John among others, now perhaps more than ever before. The audience is more than willing to turn a blind eye to immoral content only if the form of the film elicits a certain form of emotion. A certain sophisticated and unnatural sensibility that makes life worth living. A camp.
Works Cited
Babuscio, Jack . "Camp and the Gay Sensibility" in Camp Grounds: Style and Homosexuality. Massachusetts: Amherst, 2003.
Empire. Dir. Sanaa Hamri. Empire. 2015.
Sontag , Susan . Against Interpretation and Other Essays. Penguin Modern Classics, 2011.
Sontag, Susan. Notes on Camp. 1964.
The New York Times Magazine. "On Self." The New York Times Magazine (2010): 1-30.
