Quote Of The Day By John Waters: 'To Understand Bad Taste, One Must Have Very Good Taste.'

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The irascible John Waters has spoken frequently about his humble origins, notably how he started directing strange, oversexed, melodramatic shorts in the mid-1960s when he was still only a teenager. He was happy to be the local punk. His early films had titles like "Hag in a Black Leather Jacket" and "Eat Your Makeup," and they starred certain actors and locals who wound up becoming part of Waters' cadre of his lifelong collaborators, i.e. his Dreamlanders. Divine, Mink Stole, Cookie Mueller, Edith Massey, David Lochary, and Mary Vivian Pearce were among them, and they would thereafter appear in Waters' various low-budget, out-on-the-edge cult movies like "Mondo Trasho" (1969), "Multiple Maniacs" (1970), "Female Trouble" (1974), "Desperate Living" (1977), and "Polyester" (1981).

Waters' most notorious movie is 1972's "Pink Flamingos," a deliberately revolting comedy about Babs Johnson (Divine), the current holder of the title of Filthiest Person Alive. Her title is coveted by the Marbles (Stole and Lochary), who have a kidnapping/black market baby ring in the works. The film features cannibalism, animal death, incest, un-simulated sex, and coprophagy. Even to this day, "Pink Flamingos" is disgusting (and that's its power).

Waters eventually began making films more acceptable to the mainstream, beginning in 1988 with the release of "Hairspray." His movies were never gigantic hits, but Waters only became more and more admired over the years, authoring books, hosting art shows, going on extended speaking tours, and generally advancing his theories on art, taste, and fashion. Waters' taste, despite the outrageousness of some of his early films, is actually highly refined, and he understands where a "gross" aesthetic and a camp sensibility fit in the larger world of art.

Indeed, he once noted that one cannot even understand the notion of bad taste without also understanding good taste.

"To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation. But one must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste. It's easy to disgust someone; I could make a ninety-minute film of people getting their limbs hacked off, but this would only be bad bad taste and not very stylish or original. To understand bad taste one must have very good taste. Good bad taste can be creatively nauseating but must, at the same time, appeal to the especially twisted sense of humor, which is anything but universal."

This quote was taken from a passage in John Waters' invaluable autobiography "Shock Value: A Tasteful Book About Bad Taste." The book covers his early life growing up in the suburbs of Baltimore, meeting his friends, and exploring the things that led to his wild filmmaking sensibilities.

Waters has been interviewed many, many times, allowing him to go on record with his interests. In a 2012 interview with Rookie Magazine, he clarified that his passion for sleazy exploitation movies and sexy "trash" flicks was only outstripped by his passion for "arthouse" cinema and books.

In a piece for Far Out Magazine, he once listed his five favorite movies of all time, and it's a grand mix of the classic and the fringe. He loves "The Wizard of Oz" (who doesn't?), as well as Disney's 1950 animated film version of "Cinderella" (because he adores the Wicked Stepmother). But he also enjoys the perversity of Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls," Russ Meyer's indelible breast-forward classic "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" (one of the best car movies ever made), and William Castle's gimmick flick "The Tingler." 

John Waters announces his favorite films year after year, and his list is a mix of the uncomfortable and the artistic. He loved "Eddington," for instance, for how strident and up-to-the-minute it was. He also loved Óliver Laxe's film "Sirāt" while being rather high on the efficiency of the death-clocks-in horror flick "Final Destination: Bloodlines." Art and trash are one and the same, and it's important to love it all.

Good taste. Bad taste. You need both.

Waters loved being an outsider, and, as evidenced by his film "Cry-Baby," deeply admired the leather-wearing punk "drapes" that he saw in his neighborhood as a kid. As he notes in "Shock Value," he was later drawn to the glories of the local beatnik bar, Marticks, where he met many of his friends and future art buddies. There, he developed a strong taste for outsider art, "sleaze," and other sexed up material.

Waters wasn't just interested in trash, however. Oh sure, he loved trashy art, and he clearly liked the daring, "disrespectful" quality that came from what the "squares" called trash. If it was illegal, there must be something to it. In multiple interviews, including on "Late Night with David Letterman," Waters has said that his definition of beauty is specific. As such, when he saw Divine performing, he just saw "raw beauty." To quote him directly:

"To me, beauty is looks that you can never forget. And I've walked down the street with Divine and seen car accidents happen."

Something that is gross and daring is, by Waters' definition, memorable. And if it's memorable, it's beautiful. One can see this idea of "crime as art" on full display in his best movie: "Female Trouble."

"We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don't have books, don't f*** them."

"Being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it's the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it."

"Life is nothing if you're not obsessed."

"True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks."

"Contemporary art hates you."

"The only insult I've ever received in my adult life was when someone asked me, 'Do you have a hobby?' A HOBBY?! DO I LOOK LIKE A F***ING DABBLER?!"

"You don't need fashion designers when you are young. Have faith in your own bad taste. Buy the cheapest thing in your local thrift shop, the clothes that are freshly out of style with even the hippest people a few years older than you. Get on the fashion nerves of your peers, not your parents. That is the key to fashion leadership."

"I would never want to live anywhere but Baltimore. You can look far and wide, but you'll never discover a stranger city with such extreme style. It's as if every eccentric in the South decided to move north, ran out of gas in Baltimore, and decided to stay."