One could say that Stephen Elliott's "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," is a film asserting gay rights and the "alternative" lifestyle. Yes, it is true that the main characters are two transvestites and a transsexual and the film focuses on their lives as drag queens. There are scenes which display the obvious ignorance of the Australian rednecks that the trio encounters throughout their travels with name calling and fights but Elliott's central aim is not to open up a vein moralistically, or for the viewer to leave the theater with "a clearer understanding for an alternative lifestyle." This film is meant only for laughs and for pure enjoyment. Without a doubt, it accomlishes this task.
The adventures begin when Teke (Mitzi when in drag), played by Hugo Weaving, is offered a gig in his ex-wife's nightclub and he rounds up Adam-Felicia(Guy Pearce) and Bernadette (previously Ralph), who is played by Terence Stamp. To reach their destination, the three purchase a bus and dub it "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert." The bus provides the real character of the movie despite the antics of the three outrageously dressed in drag. After their first stop when Bernadette outdrank, shot for shot, the town's heaviest female drinker, Priscilla was graffited with the insult "AIDS FUCKERS GO HOME!" This, though, would not stop the hilarity of the film despite the scene's sobering message. Adam, a.k.a. Felicia, paints Priscilla a bright fuschia to cover up the graffiti, and the bus gathers even more character and personality.
Adam provides a lot of the comedic acting throughout, and in one of the film's typical one liners, he can't wait to reach the outback to climb the mountainous terrain in drag, and be, as he puts it, "a cock in a frock on a rock." The humor at times does appear to be tasteless and at times shocking , but it is all in an effort to enjoy and laugh.
The best parts of the movie are "showtime" when the three perform and are in full drag queen attire. While stranded in the outback after Priscilla's fuel tank broke, Mitzi, Felicia and Bernadette put on a show for the Australian Aborigines they meet, and unlike their more "civilized" counterparts, they join in the fun, and one man adorns his favorite dress, splatters on his best pink eyeshadow and lipstick and becomes the first ever Aborigine drag queen.
The obvious message is certain: the eternal search of every person, happiness. Felicia wants to climb the rock in his frock, Bernadette just wants to find someone to love her, and Mitzi hopes that his young son that he is reunited with will accept his father's lifestyle. The film is simply about the three's search for their happiness, not about the gay lifestyle and the messages everyone should hear in tolerance of it. "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" is a gay film, but not in the sense that one may now think, but in the traditional meaning of the word, before the slang for homosexuality became its definition; happy, joyous and thoroughly delightful!
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