campness
Deliberate gaudy excess
Campness is the quality of being camp—deliberately exaggerated, theatrical, and playfully artificial in style or manner.
It embraces the over-the-top, the kitschy, and the flamboyant with knowing irony: The campness of old Hollywood musicals is part of their charm.
The term has strong associations with gay culture, where campness often celebrates what mainstream taste considers tacky or excessive.
Sensational, emotionally overwrought drama
- overactingExcessive theatrical performance
- hammyExcessively theatrical in style
- stageyArtificially theatrical in manner
- exaggerationOverstating beyond reality
parody · pantomime · burlesque · vaudeville · farce · caricature · mugging · histrionics
Resistance through fluid
- ballroomVenue for formal dances
- voguingStylized pose-based dancing
- divaCelebrated female vocalist
- fabulousExtraordinarily good or mythical
fierce · sashay · slay · iconic · extravagance · lip-sync · wig · glamour
Preoccupation with elegant dress
- foppishVainly preoccupied with dress
- flamboyantStrikingly bold in style
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
- effeteExhausted, overly refined
preening · peacocking · swish · mannered · affected · primping · prissy · extravagant
Tasteless, garish art
- tackyVulgar or slightly sticky
- gaudyTastelessly ornate
- garishTastelessly showy
- cheesyCheap and insincere
schlock · tasteless · over-the-top · ostentatious · flamboyant · glitzy · flashy · ornate
melodrama
Sensational, emotionally overwrought drama
- overactingExcessive theatrical performance
- hammyExcessively theatrical in style
- stageyArtificially theatrical in manner
exaggeration · parody · pantomime · burlesque · vaudeville · farce · caricature · mugging · histrionics · affectation
drag
Resistance through fluid
fabulous · fierce · sashay · slay · iconic · extravagance · lip-sync · wig · glamour · shade
dandyism
Preoccupation with elegant dress
- foppishVainly preoccupied with dress
- flamboyantStrikingly bold in style
- theatricalExaggeratedly emotional for effect
effete · preening · peacocking · swish · mannered · affected · primping · prissy · extravagant · showy
kitsch
Tasteless, garish art
cheesy · schlock · tasteless · over-the-top · ostentatious · flamboyant · glitzy · flashy · ornate · baroque
campnesssubtlety
Fine distinction, easily missed
restraint · understatement · minimalism · naturalism · austerity
campnesssincerity
Honest, unfeigned genuineness
earnestness · seriousness · gravitas · authenticity · genuineness
campnessconventionality
Adherence to accepted customs
heteronormativity · squareness · straightness · conformity · masculinity
camp, camper, camping, camps, campsite, scamp, scamper, decamp, encampment