How John Waters shocked cinema and became the ‘pope of trash’ – 10/06/2023 – Illustrated

The warning at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles acts more as an encouragement than a deterrent: “This exhibit contains nudity, strong language, vomiting, and sexual and violent content that may be disturbing to some individuals.”

That’s precisely why film fans are lining up to see “John Waters: Pope of Trash,” the first exhibition dedicated to the director of cult comedy classics like “Pink Flamingos,” “Polyester” and “Hairspray: And We Were All Young”.

After four years of planning, the exhibition features around 400 items, including extravagant costumes, memorable props, script drafts, manuscripts, marketing pieces, fan paintings and personal mementos. The exhibition will run until August 2024. It will be accompanied by the screening of his films, with the presence of the author at the sessions.

“I’m sure someone will come up and say, ‘How dare you do that?’ I hope so. Otherwise we’ve done something wrong,” says Waters, 77, laughing as he presents the exhibit to the press.

It’s unlikely anyone will complain. Waters, who decades ago was an outsider to alternative cinema, is now popular and almost mainstream and has earned his star on the Walk of Fame. Most of the items in the exhibition were borrowed from the collections of two universities — a testament to how he was absorbed by the institutions.

For the director, the exhibition combines humor and seriousness in an excellent way, without irony. “As much as I love irony, it’s a form of snobbery. There’s none here. It’s all told for real.”

Although Waters hasn’t made a film since 2004’s commercial and critical bomb “The Perverts Club,” he’s rarely stepped out of the spotlight. He even poked fun at his ubiquity with a pitch-perfect catchphrase: “I’m so respectable I could throw up.”

If he’s not sporting his famous mustache on TV, in reruns of “The Simpsons” or “Law & Order,” he’s busy promoting his books, doing stand-up or winning awards at film festivals.

He recalled a visit to the Rio Festival. “I loved it. But everyone, except me, was robbed on the first day, as soon as they left the hotel, in four minutes”, he remembers. Coincidentally, many of Waters’ 12 films revolve around crime scenes.

In “Women’s Trouble”, from 1974, a fame-obsessed star, played by drag queen Divine, commits a series of murders and ends up condemned to death in the electric chair — much to her morbid joy.

The chair is one of the props on display at the museum and comes from Waters’ own collection — or more precisely from his home in Baltimore, where it is part of the decor.

Waters spent his entire life in Baltimore, a crime-ridden city in the state of Maryland. He made all of his films in the region, often casting friends and other locals. The city is the setting, for example, for the police series “The Wire”.

The director states that his greatest regret regarding the exhibition is that his parents are no longer alive to see it. “My parents weren’t bohemians,” says Waters, adding that her uncle was a high-ranking official in President Richard Nixon’s administration. “They just thought, ‘What else could I do? We’d better be supportive. It’s that or prison.'”

As a child, Waters entertained his friends and family with violent puppet shows. He made his first film at age 18, “Hag in a Black Leather Jacket”, a 17-minute short filmed on an 8mm Brownie camera that had been a gift from his grandmother.

The film, which at the time cost $30 to produce, follows an interracial couple married by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. His mother provided piano accompaniment, while his father financed the venture — and was fully reimbursed.

Waters continued to push the boundaries of good taste, such as reenacting the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy just five years after the event in “Eat Your Makeup”, portraying a spit-roasted character in “Desperate Living” or showing someone eating poop dog in “Pink Flamingos”.

During his career, he earned the nickname “trash pope” from beat writer William S. Burroughs. Drag queen Divine was perhaps the most famous in Waters’ recurring cast. Her given name was Harris Glenn Milstead, and he was a childhood friend of Waters.

The character shone in films such as “Pink Flamingos”, “Roman Candles” and “Hairspray”, which premiered shortly before her death in 1988, when Milstead was 42 years old.

Other friends of Waters included Mink Stole and Mary Vivian Pearce, who also appeared in all of his films. “We were just a group of people who, against all odds, made these films. It wasn’t a political act,” he says. “We weren’t thinking about Hollywood or anything like that.”

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See John Waters’ tips for success

Not everyone can be a famous filmmaker, but Waters, when presenting his exhibition, gave some tips for success, in any field.

Find great parents, like his. “They were supportive and very loving. When you’re a teenager, you think, ‘Oh, they don’t understand anything’. They understand more than most!”

Keep your friends close. “I don’t trust people who don’t have old friends. Something is wrong with them. Facebook is not friendship. This is lazy friendship.”

Have good manners. “Manners are how you negotiate. Whenever I take meetings in Hollywood, I wear a tie because no one wears that, which confuses people. Another thing I’ve always done: pay the bill [da refeição]. They never expect you to offer. The artist never pays. I always pay.”

Get involved. “I always tell young people: ‘If you want to participate in some area, you have to participate’. If you want to be an art dealer, go to galleries. If you want to participate in films, watch all the films. Bad films too. “

Have a sense of humor. “Anyone who stands on a platform makes people laugh. They will listen to you. First, make fun of yourself. Then you can make fun of other people. Don’t just say you’re right. Even the Catholic church has stopped saying that the Pope It’s infallible.”