Eat eggs, do crime: John Waters on 50 years of "Pink Flamingos"

[marmar]

Eat eggs, do crime: John Waters on 50 years of "Pink Flamingos"
From 1972 to 2022, we still all love a good poop joke

By KELLY MCCLURE
PUBLISHED APRIL 2, 2022 11:00AM


When "Pink Flamingos" premiered in theaters in 1972, audiences reacted to the film similarly to how they did when "The Exorcist" debuted the following year. They fainted. They puked. They fled theaters in terror. And John Waters loved every second of it.

The film that divided audiences with its switchblade sharp dialogue and greasy-sleazy cast of visually threatening unknowns is in the midst of another resurgence in a cultural landscape that is, in many ways, more conservative than it was 50 years ago. The pressure of responsibility, both good and bad, amidst what some would call "cancel culture" and amongst the prevalence of trigger warnings would seem to put a thumb on a movie like "Pink Flamingos" and yet, it's even funnier now than before. Is it because poop jokes and chicken sex are a tie that binds?

"Eating s**t was just a pre-'Jackass' moment of anarchy that continues to startle and delight," Waters said when Salon asked about the film in today's context. "Is it politically incorrect to eat a dog turd? There's a woke debate for the future!

"I understand what you mean about today's trigger-warning audiences," he added, "but I would argue 'Pink Flamingos' IS politically correct. The right people win; the judgmental and the jealous lose." ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2022/04/02/pink-flamingos-john-waters-50th-anniversary/

[dogknob]

1. In pearl-clutching 2022...

I find it satisfying that this film has been added to the Library of Congress and Criterion is issuing a 4K restoration.

[virgdem]

2. I actually had the misfortune to see this ghastly film.

I wish I could unsee it, but it was memorable, in its own horrible way.

[BigmanPigman]

3. PBS aired it on Tv in the 70s.

That's where I saw it. I wonder if PBS would do that now.

[BillyBobBrilliant]

4. I drove seventy miles

With three my college friends to see it as a midnight movie back in 1972. Viva la revolución!

[PlanetBev]

5. Brings back some fond memories

I’ll never forget that New Years Eve party going into 1992. We threw a John Waters retrospective, featuring a showing of Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living, along with good food and good weed. I never laughed so hard in my life. Good times!

Bittersweet now, as two of my closest friends at the party are now deceased.