What does it mean to be camp?

- Camp may be easier to identify than to define. Sontag's definition begins, "Camp is a certain mode of aestheticism. It is one way of seeing the world as an aesthetic phenomenon." - “the essence of camp”: an embrace of all things exaggerated, artificial, and over-the-top. - Merriam-Webster’s definition is “something so outrageously artificial, aff... See more

- In 1964, Susan Sontag defined camp as an aesthetic “sensibility” that is plain to see but hard for most of us to explain: an intentional over-the-top-ness, a slightly (or extremely) “off” quality, bad taste as a vehicle for good art. - Camp is artificial, passionate, serious, Sontag writes. Camp is Art Noveau objects, Greta Garbo, Warner Brothers... See more

Carmen Merport Quiñones - camp’s most characteristic qualities—theatricality, extravagance, and a “seriousness that fails - Since the Met has us all talking about camp, we might recall Susan Sontag’s admonition, in her famous essay on the subject, that “To talk about Camp is…to betray it.” - due to Sontag’s initial ‘betrayal,’ camp has long been a ... See more