Overview

Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Unlike kitsch, which is often earnest, camp is self-aware (or viewed with self-awareness). It prizes artifice, exaggeration, and theatricality. Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp’” codified the concept, describing it as a “love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.”

Core Idea

The essence of camp is the triumph of style over content, of aesthetics over morality, of irony over tragedy. It is a way of seeing the world in quotation marks. Something is “camp” when it is “too much”—too dramatic, too colorful, too serious about something trivial. It transforms the serious into the frivolous and the frivolous into the serious.

Formal Definition

Camp is a mode of aestheticism that emphasizes high stylization and a detachment from the content or moral of a work. It can be intentional (Naïve Camp) or unintentional (Pure Camp). Pure Camp is often a serious attempt that fails so spectacularly it becomes funny or enjoyable (e.g., a melodramatic B-movie). Intentional Camp deliberately employs these excesses for effect.

Intuition

Think of a drag queen’s performance: the exaggerated makeup, the massive wig, the lip-syncing to a dramatic ballad. It is not trying to be a “realistic” woman; it is a performance of femininity, heightened to an art form. Or consider the 1960s Batman TV series: the “POW!” graphics, the ridiculous villains, the deadpan delivery of absurd lines. It is enjoyable precisely because it is so over-the-top and artificial.

Examples

  • The Met Gala 2019: The theme was “Camp: Notes on Fashion,” resulting in celebrities wearing chandeliers, carrying their own heads, or dressing as hamburgers.
  • The Films of John Waters: Movies like Pink Flamingos or Hairspray celebrate bad taste, trash culture, and the grotesque with joy and humor.
  • Eurovision Song Contest: Often cited as a global spectacle of camp, featuring elaborate costumes, nonsensical lyrics, and dramatic key changes.
  • Tiffany Lamps: Once considered the height of elegance, Sontag lists them as an example of camp due to their ornate, somewhat excessive nature.

Common Misconceptions

  • Camp is just “gay”: While camp has deep roots in LGBTQ+ culture and history (as a code and a way of navigating a hostile world), the sensibility extends beyond it and is not exclusively defined by sexual orientation.
  • Camp is cynical: Sontag argues that true camp is generous; it enjoys the thing it mocks. It is a “tender feeling.” It is not just mean-spirited ridicule.
  • Kitsch: Kitsch is usually unconscious bad taste. Camp is the conscious appreciation of that bad taste, or the deliberate creation of it.
  • Irony: A key component of camp, but camp is a specific type of irony that focuses on aesthetic excess and theatricality.
  • The Grotesque: Both deal with exaggeration, but the grotesque often leans towards the disturbing or ugly, while camp leans towards the playful or decorative.

Applications

  • Fashion: Designers like Gucci or Moschino often employ camp aesthetics, using logos, cartoons, and clashing patterns to challenge traditional notions of luxury and taste.
  • Film and TV: The “cult classic” phenomenon is often driven by a camp sensibility—audiences gathering to watch “so bad it’s good” movies like The Room.
  • Queer Theory: Camp is studied as a survival strategy and a form of resistance, a way to subvert dominant cultural norms through performance and parody.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Depoliticization: Some critics argue that camp can trivialize serious issues by turning everything into a joke or a performance, potentially undermining political engagement.
  • Mainstreaming: As camp becomes a mainstream trend (like the Met Gala theme), it risks losing its subversive edge and becoming just another commodity.
  • Elitism: Like kitsch, the appreciation of camp requires a certain cultural capital—the ability to “get the joke” and look down on “bad” taste from a position of superiority.

Further Reading

  • Sontag, Susan. “Notes on ‘Camp’.” Partisan Review, 1964.
  • Isherwood, Christopher. The World in the Evening. (Contains an early discussion of “High Camp” vs. “Low Camp”).
  • Core, Philip. Camp: The Lie That Tells the Truth. 1984.