campiness
Deliberate over-the-top style
Campiness is the quality of being camp—deliberate exaggeration, theatricality, and ironic embrace of the artificial or outmoded.
It suggests something so over-the-top it becomes entertaining: The campiness of old horror movies is part of their charm.
Campiness often involves knowing winks at bad taste, finding pleasure in what's gaudy, melodramatic, or absurdly sincere.
Resistance through fluid
- burlesqueExaggerated mockery or risqué variety
- vaudevilleTheatrical variety entertainment
- cabaretLive entertainment venue
- pantomimeDrama through gesture alone
melodrama · showmanship · spectacle · costumery · pageantry · performance · posturing · gesticulation
Vulgar or slightly sticky
garish · kitschy · tawdry · gauche · trashy · lowbrow · B-movie · pulpy
Evoking recent past
- vintageQuality from past eras
- kitschyTastelessly popular or sentimental
- glamourFascinating, elegant attractiveness
- glamFlashy allure, abbreviated
queer · subcultural · cult · ironic · self-referential · stylized · artifice · affectation
Strikingly bold in style
- over-the-topExcessively dramatic or extravagant
- ostentatiousShowily excessive
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
- melodramaticExaggeratedly emotional in expression
hammy · overacting · gaudy · garish · flashy · showy · extravagant · florid
Satirical imitation
- satireMockery exposing vice
- farceAbsurd, laughable situation
- absurdityWildly illogical quality
- sillinessFrivolous, absurd behavior
buffoonery · slapstick · comedy · mockery · spoof · send-up · tongue-in-cheek · self-aware
drag
Resistance through fluid
- burlesqueExaggerated mockery or risqué variety
- vaudevilleTheatrical variety entertainment
- cabaretLive entertainment venue
pantomime · melodrama · showmanship · spectacle · costumery · pageantry · performance · posturing · gesticulation · scenery-chewing
tacky
Vulgar or slightly sticky
chintzy · garish · kitschy · tawdry · gauche · trashy · lowbrow · B-movie · pulpy · hokey
retro
Evoking recent past
- vintageQuality from past eras
- kitschyTastelessly popular or sentimental
- glamourFascinating, elegant attractiveness
glam · queer · subcultural · cult · ironic · self-referential · stylized · artifice · affectation · sensibility
flamboyant
Strikingly bold in style
- over-the-topExcessively dramatic or extravagant
- ostentatiousShowily excessive
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
melodramatic · hammy · overacting · gaudy · garish · flashy · showy · extravagant · florid · baroque
parody
Satirical imitation
silliness · buffoonery · slapstick · comedy · mockery · spoof · send-up · tongue-in-cheek · self-aware · knowingness
campinesssubtlety
Fine distinction, easily missed
restraint · understatement · minimalism · naturalism · realism
campinessearnestness
Genuine seriousness of intent
sincerity · seriousness · gravitas · solemnity · poignancy
campinessgood taste
Sense of quality
classicism · conventionality · propriety · decorum · sophistication
camp, campaign, camper, camping, campsite, campground, encampment, campy, decamping