By GINA T’AI
I love Camp. Not summer camp, and not camping. No, Camp, the genre of entertainment. Camp is so bad it’s good. It is self-aware of its bad taste, is highly performative theatrically, and leans into ridiculousness and exaggeration. Susan Sontag’s Notes on “Camp” explains it like this: “Camp sees everything in quotation marks. It’s not a lamp, but a ‘lamp’; not a woman, but a ‘woman’.” As an artist, I find endless inspiration in campiness, and as a scholar, I position camp as a pursuit worthy of academic inquiry. As both a mom and a professor I have to say you can and should watch these campy films, but not until you’ve finished your homework and eaten your vegetables.
Here are my top 10 favorite films in the Camp genre:
(in no particular order)
1) 9-5 (1980)
9-5 is the Pro-union, feminist, revenge fantasy of my dreams. Dolly Parton’s first film appearance does not disappoint. Alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, the three of them kidnap their chauvinist boss and take office policy into their own hands. The song is pretty darn good too. Hilarity ensues.
2) Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
BLWT is Dolly Parton’s second film, and this time a musical! She stars as the madam of a Texas brothel and Burt Reynolds is the local sheriff with whom she is having an affair. The “chicks” at the Chicken Ranch are damn good dancers and scantily clad, and the villain has a deliciously bad haircut. Hilarity ensues.
3) Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure was the mainstream launch of Pee-wee Herman (and Tim Burton’s feature-length directorial debut), and we’ve never been the same. Pee-wee’s beloved bike gets stolen and he treks across the country to get it back. There is no basement at the Alamo. Hilarity ensues.
4) Clue (1985)
Legend has it that Clue had different endings depending on the movie theater or screening you attended, unlike the sequential endings on VHS, BluRay, DVD, or your chosen streaming service. With Tim Curry’s portrayal of The Butler anchoring the cast’s eccentric performances, the result is a delightful serving of campy humor. Hilarity ensues.
5) Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
Barb and Star is the most recent of the films on this list proving that Camp is just as effective today as it was in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Barb and Star lose their jobs selling furniture at the mall and decide to take their first ever vacation to a resort in Florida. Kristen Wiig plays both protagonist “Star” and villain “Sharon Gordon Fisherman”. Hilarity ensues.
6) Troop Beverly Hills (1989)
Camp goes to camp! The Girl Scout knock off, Wilderness Girls, girls of Beverly Hills get badges in diamond clarity identification and camp out at the Beverly Hills Hotel. But when they go to the annual Jamboree with other troops, in the actual wilderness… well, as you know by now hilarity ensues.
7) Big Business (1988)
Two sets of identical twins were born in the same rural hospital on the same day, one set to wealthy city people, and the other set to country folk. This movie has it all. Fashion. Pig calling. Stakeholders meetings. Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin. Obviously, the twins get mixed up and meet when they’re adults, not knowing what happened decades earlier. And of course, hilarity ensues.
8) But I’m a Cheerleader (2000)
Queer cult classic, But I’m a Cheerleader, takes on the campiness of “traditional” gender roles at a gay conversion camp. RuPaul plays an “ex-gay” turned conversion counselor. It’s young lesbian love with a happy ending to boot! Hilarity ensues.
9) Xanadu (1980)
I can’t tell you what Xanadu is about, because I don’t really know. And it absolutely doesn’t matter. Olivia Newton-John stars as an ancient Greek muse that is also maybe immortal and excels in roller disco. It’s eye candy to the nth degree. Hilarity ensues (but not in the same way as the other films because Xanadu is a category all its own).
10) Moonstruck (1987)
Ok, Moonstruck doesn’t fit squarely into the Camp genre; it resides more in Camp-adjacent territory. But hey, Snap out of it! It is still my all-time favorite film, and it is campy because Nicholas Cage is Nicholas Cage. And Cher is Cher. Capice? While it may not intentionally induce laughter, rest assured that if you ever catch me performing the entire movie as a one-woman show (which I am known to do from time to time), rest assured that hilarity ensues.
Honorable mentions:
Witches of Eastwick
Teen Witch
Death Becomes Her
Hairspray (1988 original. John Waters dir. ONLY)
Barbarella
Elvira Mistress of the Dark
Drop Dead Gorgeous
Romy and Michelle’s High School Reunion
This Is Spinal Tap
Who’s That Girl
Wet Hot American Summer
Heathers
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