Drag Queen Narratives as Media of Knowledge: Identity Performance and Semiotic Mediation in Contemporary Pop Culture

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.1929612608044

• Palavras-chave: Knowledge Media; Semiotic Mediation; Identity Performance; Drag Culture; Gender Identity; Contemporary Pop Culture.

• Keywords: Knowledge Media; Semiotic Mediation; Identity Performance; Drag Culture; Gender Identity; Contemporary Pop Culture.

• Abstract:

  This article examines the reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” from the theoretical perspective of Knowledge Media, seeking to understand how the program’s transformations between 2018 and 2026 constitute an active process of cultural mediation that goes beyond entertainment. To this end, the study revisits and builds upon the semiotic-discursive analysis developed by Pasqualotto, Perassi, and Gonçalves (2018), grounded in Saussurean dual signs and Greimasian generative meaning, articulating this framework with theoretical contributions from Knowledge Media. The analysis maps discursive, identity-related, and structural reconfigurations of the program, especially when situated within the new ecosystems of digital media. The results demonstrate that these changes are not merely reactive to market demands but express a systematic process of production, dissemination, and collective negotiation of meanings regarding gender identity, diversity, and inclusion. The study concludes that “RuPaul’s Drag Race” operates as a living cultural archive and a platform for the co-production of knowledge, establishing itself as an active agent in the re-signification of contemporary cultural narratives.