Aura

1991 / 7 Minutes
English
NTSC / Stereo / Color / B&W / 3/4” video
Distributed by: Video Out, V Tape, mingyuen@earthlink.net

 


What is the relationship between Asian drag queens and muscle boys at the Mr. and Ms. GAPA 1991 competition and Chinese poetry written during the Tang dynasty? Why is it that Ihara Saikaku's passages from The Great Mirror of Male Love describing the clothing of Kabuki boy actors seems so fitting for drag divas on the runway? What is the significance when contemporary Asian gay men dress up in costumes that seem more out of Hollywood than Beijing? How do you pronounce An Ling, Mizi Xia, or Sodeoka? Is this deconstruction, appropriation, or just over-kill? Find the answers in Aura - a deconstructed music video featuring Asian drag queens, Chinese & Japanese poetry, and house music. Effects-ridden and totally overdone; an almost frivolous exploration of gender, identity, tradition, and glamour.