"I can't define pornography, but I know it when I see it." Such was the famous pronouncement of Justice Stewart in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964). Similar might be said of camp or the campy. It's not terribly easy to define, but instances of it can be pretty blatant.
Camp is related to kitsch. Kitsch is trashy or vulgar "art" exemplified in such items as the "velvet Elvis", the garden gnome, Precious Moments paraphernalia, Thomas Kinkade, truck stop merchandise, Chia Pets, the Village People, the Brady Bunch - the list is endless.
We might say that camp is kitsch mocking itself, or self-conscious/self-referential kitsch. In this article you will learn some ways to recognize camp or the campy.
Recognize that Camp Is Partly Defined By the Audience
The Brady Bunch show was kitsch, and the Dragnet show was kitsch. But today when we watch these shows we deem them as camp. At the time when these shows were produced, they were intended to be taken sincerely, with the Brady Bunch being the great American middle class family and Dragnet as the triumph of traditional values over the counterculture and the antisocial.
As viewers we now laugh at the Brady Bunch and Dragnet, but not necessarily at the intentionally funny parts. The intentionally funny parts we may laugh at for their not being funny but supposedly being funny.
Step2
See How Audience Perception Resonates
I chose the two preceding examples in particular because decades after their arrival on the scene, related campy movies were produced. There was first a Dragnet movie and then the Brady Bunch Movie. The movie treatments honored the contemporary American audience's now viewing as camp the kitsch of the original series. Dan Akroyd mocked Joe Friday, and the Brady Bunch Movie made reference to such things as the lawn consisting in artificial turf.
Another example would be Mystery Science Theater 3000, in which old films (often sci-fi) are mocked by the small audience that's on the set (self-referentiality). The films being skewered were originally meant to be frightening or full of wonder and cutting edge special effects, but by now they had become campy.
Step3
See Camp in Music
Beyond TV and movies, there is music. Weird Al Yankovic is one of the better examples of camp in pop music, self-consiously poking fun at it. Sometimes it's difficult to say whether something is camp or kitsch, or perhaps even camp to some and kitsch to others. How about Cyndi Lauper? The Spice Girls?
Step4
See Camp in Basic Objects
In the introduction, the Chia Pet was used as an example of kitsch. However, as a joke gift the Chia Pet becomes camp. Again, the audience plays a role in determining whether something is kitsch or camp, since the latter is a winking at kitsch, a knowing something is kitschy and having a bit of fun about it.
Seinfeld is chockful of camp, not the least of which are campy objects. For instance, there's the episode in which Jerry places a Pez dispenser on Elaine's knee during a piano concert. The Pez dispenser is so kitschy, and contrasted to the serious environment of the concert it becomes camp.
Tips & Warnings
I've named just a tiny fraction of the examples of camp. Please free to add to the list by trying some out in the comments section!
This has been a fairly light treatment of camp, but there may be serious political implications as well. Does camp expose the foibles and ultimately the vacuous nature of contemporary life by mocking it, thus becoming critique of the status quo? Or does camp simply reinforce the status quo by turning it into a giggle instead of offering any "deep" critical analysis?
How to Know Camp When You See It
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