Disturbed Genius

Book cover featuring Waters and his star, Divine

When I was a freshman at UT Austin, we would go to midnight movies at the Dobie Cinema on Guadalupe Street. We saw many classics: "Groove Tube", "The Cheerleaders", "Rocky Horror" and soft-core pieces like "Blow Dry" and "The Joys of Emmanuelle". Most of these movies had something slightly weird or salacious to recommend them as midnight viewings. But the movie that made me laugh 'til I cried was John Water's "Female Trouble". It is the story of Dawn Davenport, a troubled teenager that runs away from home and becomes a fashion model. What makes the movie delightfully surreal are the portrayals of teachers, parents and authority figures. To be sure, Dawn is out of control, but so is everyone else in this crazed vision of our world. Adults come across as whiny, pedantic nerds, reciting tired platitudes. Played by the hefty transvestite Divine, Dawn is furious when she doesn't get her cha-cha heels for Christmas. She knocks the tree over on her parents and smashes all the presents. Then, she runs away from home. The movie basically runs a steamroller over cherished ideals, like so much rough asphalt.

Next, I watched "Pink Flamingos" which is about a contest to be the filthiest people alive. I laughed until the final scene, which showed a disgusting bit of coprophagy which, in my opinion, should have been left out or simulated. The movie was billed as a "gross out movie for a gross out society" and that it certainly was. I never realized how tenuous is the meaning of the word "normal". In our normal lives, grass is green and the sky is blue. Likewise with people, parents are knowledgeable and loving, and teachers are fair. But John Waters gives it a different spin altogether. His adults are frequently ruled by childish impulses and selfish motives. The outcome is behavior too lunatic to even be described as drunken or manic. It's in a category by itself. For those of us who've experienced family dysfunction due to alcohol or other things, John Waters' characters look strangely familiar. We laugh and laugh -- and then we cry.

By the 1980's, John Waters had crossed over to mainstream acceptance. He did relatively tame fare like "Polyester", "Cry Baby," "Serial Mom" and "Hair Spray" which still had his trademark eccentricity but nothing to cause the Vice Squad to be placed on standby. "Hair Spray" has even been spun off into a long-running Broadway musical. Divine passed away unexpectedly on the set of "Married with Children" back in the early 90’s probably due to weight-related health problems. You might say that the party is over, or you might just swing by a video store and see what they have under “cult”, “comedy” or “tasteless”. Be prepared to be shocked, disgusted and then – have pieces of the inappropriate dialog lodge in your brain, where you want to retrieve them when shocking someone is important. For some of us less fortunate, John Waters has portrayed something all too real. For everyone else, have a “Divine” time watching these movies. Craig, if you’re reading this – stay away from “Pink Flamingos”. 