The Political Implications of Playing Hopefully: A Negotiation of the Present and the Utopic in Queer Theory and Latina Literature

Abstract

It is Vida Boheme, the elegant Southern Belle drag queen played by Patrick Swayze in 1995s cult classic film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, that whispers these words to amateur drag queen Miss Chi-Chi Rodriguez, played by John Leguizamo. In this scene, which takes place in the tiny Midwestern town they are stuck in after a car malfunction, Vida tries to impart some wisdom on the younger, less refined Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi has fallen in love with a local town boy that believes her to be a woman and, overwhelmed by the prospect of being rejected by both him and the elder drag queens she wants so badly to impress, she is feeling hopeless. In response, Vida offers her one simple phrase: “You just imagine good things happening and you make them happen.” It is this phrase that I want to examine this chapter.