Holly Hughes’ Preaching to the Perverted uses a plethora of visual and oral language and metaphors to explore the context of her Supreme Court trial as part of the NEA 4. Within the performance, Hughes uses the American flag in different contexts as a metaphor to explore its different symbolic uses. She typically deals out the metaphors with an unconcerned, dry amusement that is critical to providing the social commentary in each moment. For example, at the beginning, she talks about the outrage dealt when an artist installation of the American flag required people to step on it. She proceeds to dig out American flags from her shipping box and throw them about like confetti. This visual metaphor morphs and evolves later in the piece when she
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The metaphor strikes at the heart of how people in power who stridently abide by heteronormative rules, nevertheless, appropriate whatever culture they like and dig through what they don’t like to find an agenda worthy of their prosecution. She, then, pulls out a rainbow, clown hat with a tiny fan drooping wistfully that tells the audience she is the fool in this hunt and she doesn’t know. Magazines are thrown out with comical furor. A rainbow flag with stars gets laid out on the floor as one last reminder that these people are also citizens, but regretfully, stepped on anyway. Long, colorful stripes are pulled out with befuddlement. Random objects come flying out of the box without thought or consequence as her desperation to get to the bottom of the box increases. At last, she pulls out a Beanie baby. Perhaps, this is the evidence she has been looking for, because as she has previously told the audience, a “lesbian plus beanie baby equals child molester.” But, still, this is
The metaphor strikes at the heart of how people in power who stridently abide by heteronormative rules, nevertheless, appropriate whatever culture they like and dig through what they don’t like to find an agenda worthy of their prosecution. She, then, pulls out a rainbow, clown hat with a tiny fan drooping wistfully that tells the audience she is the fool in this hunt and she doesn’t know. Magazines are thrown out with comical furor. A rainbow flag with stars gets laid out on the floor as one last reminder that these people are also citizens, but regretfully, stepped on anyway. Long, colorful stripes are pulled out with befuddlement. Random objects come flying out of the box without thought or consequence as her desperation to get to the bottom of the box increases. At last, she pulls out a Beanie baby. Perhaps, this is the evidence she has been looking for, because as she has previously told the audience, a “lesbian plus beanie baby equals child molester.” But, still, this is