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The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

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clip The Queens of King's Canyon education content clip 1, 2

Original classification rating: M. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

Tick/Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) attempts to become more ‘masculine’ in the eyes of his son Benji (Mark Holmes), but the boy reassures his father that he accepts him as he is. Mitzi then joins Felicia (Guy Pearce) and Bernadette (Terence Stamp) in full drag for the climb to the top of King’s Canyon, thus fulfilling Felicia’s ambition.

Curator’s notes

by Paul Byrnes

There’s a sly joke in the way the scene is filmed, to remind us of the disappearing girls in Peter Weir’s film Picnic at Hanging Rock. Nevertheless the ascent of this spectacular landscape by the three men in drag costume is still kind of thrilling. Way beyond the incongruity of the scene, there’s a strong sense of achievement – they have survived. The film came out in 1994, 14 years into the AIDS epidemic, which had already killed millions of people worldwide. The majority of those who died in Australia were gay men; the backlash against gay sexuality had been strong in some quarters. Priscilla was a kind of proclamation, in its own way, of the indomitability of gay culture in Australia.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

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  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

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ANY UNAUTHORISED USE OF MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY RESULT IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY.

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