Powered by http://www.eurovision.tv Austria: Conchita Wurst - Rise Like a Phoenix live at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final
Eurovision is a yearly competition that has each participating nation
nominate a song to be performed on live television by one of its artists.
These performances are then voted on and a winner is chosen.
This year’s controversial winner was drag character and Austrian singer
Conchita Wurst aka Thomas Neuwirth who presents himself as very feminine and well made-up except for that he also sports a full beard. It is interesting to note that the name “Conchita Wurst” probably
non-coincidentally, can be interpreted as meaning: small vagina penis,
from the Spanish slang- concha and the German, Wurst- meaning sausage or penis.
I would like to relate this video to the class readings
History of
Sexuality by Michelle Foucault and
Tacit Subjects by Carlos Decena. In particular, I think that Neuwirth’s decision to perform as his drag character on the international stage clearly lines up with Foucault’s
repressive hypothesis, i.e. I don’t believe Foucault would have advocated such an open expression (on the world stage) of this non-normative sexuality. Even though doing so might be liberating for Neuwirth, the decision will come with the extra policing and social backlash we’ve spoken about in detail in class.
I believe that through his ensemble Neuwirth is expressing his sexuality
and is perhaps saying that to some extent he believes he is both male and female, that he finds aspects of both appeal to him. He presents a queer body that is neither strictly male, nor female, but rather both. As you can see in the video, the performance, despite winning the competition, has earned far more thumbs down on Youtube than thumbs up. Additionally, the comments section is full of condemning, shocked and homophobic comments.
As far as
Tacit Subjects is concerned, I believe that Neuwirth could have had something to lose by making this statement- choosing to portray himself in the way he has. Despite being Austrian, he is ethnically Turkish. Turkish communities, similarly to Mexican and Cuban communities, are not inherently homophobic, however they are not generally accepting or open to the idea of homosexuality/transexuality.
Homosexuality is definitely not mainstream or condoned in their society
which is generally speaking on the more conservative side.
–by Kal Petkov