All About Eve Analysis

The iconic presence of Bette Davis as Margo Channing in “All About Eve” is a clear example of Sontag’s vision of “camp” as that which is focused on style, glamor and extravagance. Not only was Bette Davis a great stylist ‘of temperament and mannerism’, her exaggerated gestures and larger-than-life individual style made her artistically “camp” (Sontag, 56). It is important to note, however, that Bette Davis was a true “camp” icon because she was ‘not intending to be campy’ (Sontag, 58). In fact, it was her audacity in defying what was accepted as gender norms in her time that gained her a cult following in the gay community who latched upon her “campness” and defiance as a symbol of their pride. In the case of “All About My Mother”, the fact

In our examination of the two films, it is clear that “camp” was created and consumed differently – while “All About Eve” did not possess the explicit representation of the LGBT community like “All About My Mother”, it appealed to homosexual viewers who could interpret the film through their own subjectivities and pick up more strongly on the “camp” despite it not being intentionally created. “All About My Mother”, on the other hand, was blatantly imbued with “camp” with its representation of gender performance, but garnered mainstream acceptance by people who recognized the artistic accomplishment of Almodovar regardless of his choice of topic. “Camp”, in its portrayal of ‘flamboyant mannerisms susceptible to a double interpretation; gestures full of duplicity’, is thus in itself dual in many ways (Sontag, 57). Not only is it both an artistic taste and sensibility as well as a socio-political tool of expression for the gay community, it is also frivolous and serious at the same time. “Camp” is a way through which we consume and experience the existing world around us, but also a mode of challenging and re-creating new standards independent of the established norms. These dualities, in spite of their differences, serve to underscore the fundamental positivity within “camp” – even the seemingly frivolous and insignificant can be appreciated; ‘something is good not because it is achieved but because another kind of truth about the human situation, another experience of what it is to be human…is being revealed’ (Sontag, 62). Furthermore, with “camp” being able to provide the medium in which the individualistic ‘intensities of character’ can be appreciated, it becomes ‘a way of shielding the inner self from those on the outside who are too insensitive to understand’ for the gay