John Waters is one of the most laughed at and most followed of film
directors right outside the circle of Hollywood. Branded as the "Prince of
Puke", a title he wears with pride, John has made nine films since 1970, often on a
budget of a similar size of that of a student film production. His major hit, Pink
Flamingos cost an astounding $10,000 in 1972. It was basically financed by a friend
stealing film stock from a lab she worked at.
It has grossed over two million since.
Studying his films for years, I never really looked at patterns in his
work. Themes, ideals, morals, topics, were never even thought of. As I was reviewing his
last effort, Serial Mom, with friends I would keep explaining how this is like one
of his other films, or how that scene is reminiscent of another film. As a collective
whole, they relate to the screwball comedy turned on its' head, a reworking of this
innocent genre into ugliness.
John Waters, born 1946 in Baltimore, basically being an outcast and becoming friends with
the other outcasts during his childhood, he describes his training as such:
"...NYU accepted me after a year of good grades at the University of Baltimore. I
figured that if I was going to be forced to continue this charade of education, I might as
well be in Greenwich Village. I was supposed to be taking film-making courses, but after
attending a few classes and realizing that we'd have to watch the Odessa Steps sequence
from Potemkin until it came out our ears, I immediately decided never to attend
another class. Instead, I spent my days stealing textbooks from the university bookshop
and selling them back as used books to finance endless trips to underground and
exploitation movie houses. Sometimes I saw four movies a day and got a much better
perspective on films than I would have got in the classroom. (Waters 44)
Classical training was obviously not part of his learning. His films represent all that is
wrong in filmmaking, and yet follow the work of that of the french new-wave. He cites
Godard as one of his main influences (Ives 115). So the jumpy style of the films, the jump
cuts, the mismatch, is very French in its' styling, but is basically because of lack of
funds because all of this is lost as his budgets increase. His first shot in Mondo
Trasho, a 16mm black and white silent film, is a man brutally killing a bird with an
axe, basically taking the same sequence from Robert Bresson's Mouchette. There is
also a sound cut often of cop cars and bullets, almost identical to the noise gaps in
Godard's Alphaville.
Waters also cites Warhol as an influence (Ives 84). Warhol (and Paul
Morrisey) films often are not judged by content, but effect. Sleep for instance was
hardly to be critiqued on a film art level, but for its' effect and idea. Waters films are
meant to shock with its' images, but also play upon our concepts of reality and morality.
Though the films are much like that of the French, Waters backdrop is the
urban milieu; the lower class's white trash. During Waters growth into different areas,
remarkably starting when he starts shooting on 35mm film, his backdrop elevates to the
middle class, but still filled with particularly American idiosyncracies. He uses as his
counterpoint the classic Hollywood storytelling method, stereotyping, and genre
classification.
One obsession is the idea of social outcasts turning their predicament
into an elite. In Pink Flamingos the grotesque actually fight for the crown of the
"Ugliest People Alive". In Multiple Maniacs, the side show that
introduces the film (similar to Zampano's introduction in La Strada) is called Lady
Divine's Cavalcade of Perversion. In the beauty shop in Female Trouble the
aristocracy of whom may enter depends on the tackiness of the customer.
Another theme is strict catholicism. Christianity may either lead the
character onto the correct path or lead them to destruction if they defy. There is a Jesus
on the cross scene in Multiple Maniacs during a point-of-view scene. The virgin
mary shows up when Divine is in the laundromat in Mondo Trasho. "Divine was
'led to spiritual enlightenment by the Infant of Prague' in Multiple Maniacs."
(Ives 70). Divine has lesbian sex in a church with a pair of rosary beads in Multiple
Maniacs as well. Beverly Sutphin prays every night before going to bed, and eludes the
cops in church in Serial Mom.
Sex is almost always present in a John Waters film, as a ridiculous act
between two people. He displays any sexual contact as a comical display of bizarre
fetishisms. Whether it is the pervert shrimping (toe sucking) an innocent bystandard as in
Mondo Trasho, or the police officer demanding to sniff the underwear of the people
he is arresting in Desperate Living. Perhaps it is the hilarious scene between Mr.
Fishpaw and his secretary in his office above his porno theatre with Russ Meyer posters
everywhere, or the son sniffing glue and flipping through a scrapbook he has of women's
high heels in Polyester. Let's not forget young Scottie in Serial Mom
masturbating to a sexploitation film, or the elderly woman having her dog lick
"Mommy's feet".
Bab's says in Pink Flamingos "This is where they mate,
Crackers. Right here on this very bed! This is why they touch their uninspired little
organs together, vainly trying to recharge their worn-out battery of filthiness, thrashing
and moaning in the still of the night.
"Crackers: What kind of shit turns them on, Mama? What do they do in
here?
"Babs: Oh, all sorts of disgusting positions I would imagine,
Crackers. Connie probably takes Raymond's little peanut of a cock between her brittle
chapped lips and then scrapes her ugly decayed teeth up and down on it while asshole
Raymond thinks he's getting the best head on the East Coast. Then they probably sit here
and stare at each other's blue and red hair while they goose each other and say dirty
words." (2. Waters 59)
One huge link between almost all of the films is the concept of crime is beauty. During
the execution of the Marbles in Pink Flamingos, Divine coyfully poses for the
camera. Female Trouble, Divine also considers herself a superstar the more violent
acts she commits. She gloats over the Sharon Tate murder in Multiple Maniacs while
staring at herself in the mirror. In Serial Mom her son tells her when she is
almost to be arrested that "You don't need a lawyer, you need an agent".
The recurrent theme follows the auteur theory of the classical Hollywood director such as
Frank Capra and his little man against the ruling class. Or perhaps John Ford and his lone
hero outside the circle of society trying to repair wrongdoings and maintain homeostasis.
Maybe like Preston Sturges and his representation of the upperclass. Most likely it is
akin to Tod Browning's display of the freak against society and the coping one has to do
to remain an individual.
John Waters has a fixation on violence, and senseless killing without
guilt. This is not unlike the villain in the western, or the criminal in the archetypal
gangster film. Sensibilities change over the time, the wry pessimistic view of society in
post-war films have only soured in the Vietnam era, with political crooks and the falling
of the church have not only made the murderer escape, but actually applauded as if a
figment of our tv imagination. Death is chic. He states in his book Shock Value
that he used to collect pictures of natural disasters, and later in life he admits to
attending trials of serial murders as well as becoming pen pals with them. This later
becomes an inside joke in Serial Mom where Beverly sends cassette-letters to Ted
Bundy and collects gore novels.
The underworld in Water's vision takes place in broad daylight, instead of
hiding under "society's pliers" (Dylan) they freely walk around suburbanites
committing their acts unabashed, with merely a disgusted voyeuristic curiosity by the
straights. This is a diametric opposite to the film-noir stylings where any non-typical
behavior occurs in the confines of buildings or late at night.
As for the screwball comedy, remember Water's films are comedies, their are
similarities in genre construction between his work and the prototypical convention. The
screwball comedy's job is to reconcile the social inequalities of class differentiation
(Schatz 155). Such is the case in Capra's film It Happened One Night where Ellie is
a rich woman who runs away from the wealth and security from her fiancee King Westley and
her father into the arms of middle class reporter Peter Warne. Throughout the film the
class ideologies cause conflict until they break through the barriers of social order and
fall in love. This conflict of class struggle can also be seen in Preston Sturges's The
Great McGinty where McGinty who was a poor beggar turned into political leader falls
through dealings with the mob falls in love with his secretary-middle-class-wife who
convinces him to go straight, virtually sacrificing his life and livelihood as well as his
wife in the process just for her acceptance.
Water's also draws up conflict between upper and lower classes. The
conflict is usually between acceptance by friends and acceptance by society. Pink
Flamingos has the Johnson family just wanting to live in peace having strife with the
Marbles over who are the filthiest people alive; the Johnsons are the lower class while
the Marbles are rich and filthy people. In Cry-Baby their is a struggle over the
squares, who are rich suburbanites, and the drapes, working class white trash. In Hairspray
their is a conflict between white and blacks being on a teenage show in the fifties. Polyester
has a conflict over the old money and the nouveau riche. Queen Carlotta and her servants
have a political struggle between the inhabitants of Mortville in Desperate Living.
Water's represents the baby boom generation gone awry in suburban hell.
The only problem was that he was a little to early in his ideas. Only now do we have
similar pessimistic views towards "the good life". The films he made came
directly after the summer of love and three days of peace, love, and happiness. Violent
protests for peace were not thought of in any way other than altruistic ideals. His love
for violence and cynicism were only feelings to come for the thirty-somethings. Through
his campy style and silliness come real meanings comparable to that of other great film
artists. The last sequence in Mondo Trasho, for instance, goes through almost every
label for a person until the victim simply clicks her heels and disappears. Many of the
arrest scenes in the catalog of his films is simply because the protagonist refuses to
conform to contemporary mores and stand as an individual.
A definite theme would be individuality. In the 16mm films many of the
untypical characters bond together to form a unity towards a common goal, not unlike
Eisenstein's early films. There is a certain cynicism though in the relation, just as in
the screwball comedy's pairing of the screwballs. They might get married, but will their
difference eventually pull them apart? The cowboy and gal may ride into the sunset, but
what happens when the sun goes down? The "freaks" may bond, but how long until a
new dictatorship will rise. Often Divine's character is tyrannical in nature, though our
sympathies may lie with her, and she does face a bigger political figure, but is she any
better?
The misanthropic viewpoint of Capra and Sturges is carried out by Waters
but with a trashy motif. Very often nobody would like to hear the sour side of any topic,
whether it be controversial topics, political viewpoints, and especially if it is the
downtrodden garbage of society, but Water's revels in it. He casts particularly ugly and
fat women, usually making them even uglier with tacky clothing, scabs, misshapen teeth,
while giving them outrageous hairdos. The men are either feminine in nature, also with
tremendous hairstyles and ridiculous clothing, or slovenly made up in the early films.
Tackiness is beautiful, whether it is gaudy Ethan Allen furniture inside a mobile home, or
pink flamingos on the lawn. Truly a celebration of America's refuse.
Amazingly his films have turned a modest profit, but are generally unknown. Currently his
work is starting to be appreciated by major audiences. This is perhaps because of his
sensibility, creating more palatable movies such as the success of Hairspray and Serial
Mom. His underground status has changed from weirdo over to the zaniness likened to
Tim Burton. His style and accessibility is basically the same, perhaps toned down, but he
still treads on different path than contemporary Hollywood directors. His influence and
successfulness is comparable to the Verve record labels two most important groups from the
sixties: The Velvet Underground and The Mothers of Invention. Only now is any real
achievement been made, twenty or so years after the fact.
Bibliography
Dylan, Bob. Lyrics quoted from "It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" from Bringing
it All Back Home. Columbia Records, 1965.
Ives, John G. American Originals: John Waters. Thunder's Mouth Press: New York,
1992.
Schatz, Thomas. Hollywood Genres. McGraw-Hill, Inc.: New York, 1981.
Waters, John. Shock Value. Delta: New York, 1981.
2. Waters, John. Trash Trio. Vintage Books: New York, 1988.
Filmography
1969 Mondo Trasho (16mm) 95 mins
1970 Multiple Maniacs (16mm) 90 mins
1972 Pink Flamingos (16mm/35mm*) 93 mins
1974 Female Trouble (16mm/35mm*) 92 mins
1977 Desperate Living (16mm/35mm*) 90 mins
1981 Polyester (35mm) 95 mins
1988 Hairspray (35mm) 90 mins
1990 Cry-Baby (35mm) 85 mins
1994 Serial Mom (35mm) 93 mins
*-Blown up for projection and distribution