What is "Camp"? Five Scholars discuss Sontag, The Met and Camp's Queer Origins

- 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

"Camp is a vision of the world in terms of style - but a particular style. It is the love of the exaggerated." - Susan Sontag A sensibility (as distinct from an idea) one of the hardest things to talk about; but there are special reasons why Camp, in particular, has never been discussed. It is not natural mode of sensibility, if there be any such. ... See more