"I am strongly drawn to Camp, and almost as strongly offended by it...That is why I want to talk about it, and why I can...the essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration...Camp rests on innocence. That means Camp discloses innocence, but also, when it can, corrupts it...The hallmark of Camp is the spirit of extravagance. Camp is a woman walking around in a dress made of three million feathers." - Susan Sontag
Random example of an item that is part of the canon of Camp: Joi Lansing in her classic Scopitone "Web of Love." Watch the video:
I found Sontag's "Against Interpretation" in the book dumpster two years ago. What a precious resource it has been. As I skimmed "Notes on Camp" today and considered what I see in the magazines, on the billboards, and on the faces of others, I asked myself: Has our entire culture has become a campy parody of itself?
