Abstract
Susan Sontag's 1964 article "Notes on Camp" resurfaces to the reading public with the 10th anniversary of her death. As a term, "camp" became well known during the 1960s, yet its origin can be traced to the 17th century. As a notion of taste, the camp sensibility is active in all fields of nostalgic collections, avant-garde and independent art, rock music and fashion. As a genre of subculture, camp is closely linked with the development of the queer theory, the youth movement and the politics of homosexuality. Camp appreciation can also be seen in the film industry, which provides us a possibility to challenge dominant taste, to transcend the duality of value judging and hierarchical aesthetical mindset, and to appreciate and revalue the out-of-date, neglected or even failed works. On the basis of Sontag's distinction between "naïve camp" and "deliberate camp," the present paper tries to divide the camp films into three types, namely, the classic oldies now lauded with nostalgic sentiments, the originally failed movies resurfaced, and the movies deliberately made in the camp style. Through an analysis of these movies, the paper presents a reevaluation of Sontag's "Notes."
First Page
137
Last Page
145
Recommended Citation
Li, Wensi. 2015. "Rethinking Camp: From Sontag's "Notes on Camp" to Camp Films." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 35, (5): pp.137-145. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol35/iss5/16
