Camp and Glamour as Expressions of Aesthetic, Moral and Political Freedom
Camp and Glamour as Expressions of Aesthetic, Moral and Political Freedom

Summary/Abstract: Camp and glamour are considered nowadays, above all, as expressions of the threefold kind of freedom: aesthetic, moral and political. In the first instance freedom can be understood as the anarchizing of aesthetics. It consists not only in demolishing the aesthetic canons or substituting “bad taste” for “good taste”. Such anarchy is also achieved by deliberately merging erotica with aesthetics, which was traditionally contested by many authors, even as daring as George Santayana or John Dewey. With regard to morals, camp and glamour display a notable tolerance for pornography, including its elevated type forming a part of fashion. When viewed as political freedom, camp and glamour enable socially excluded groups to express their identity, needs and desires. In the article I shall consider all of the above-mentioned kinds of freedom. However, this consideration shall be subjected to yet another type of freedom – connected with theorising the title phenomena – since, paradoxically, complete theoretical arbitrariness is not the best option in exposing the freedom typical of camp and glamour. Especially identifying them with aesthetic values imposes the rigour of axiological aesthetics, in view of which the essential features of camp and glamour become indiscernible. In order to bring out their important trait of latitude I believe it is necessary either to give up the traditional ways of theorising aesthetic phenomena or to reconsider those traditions thoroughly. I shall refer to both these alternatives in the course of the article.

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