Waters, John (1946—)
Director John Waters earned the title "King of Bad Taste" in 1972 for Pink Flamingos, a raunchy film that makes a laughing matter of most every type of perversion. The film ushered in a new era for popular culture, in which the shocking and bizarre would attract growing audiences and profits, penetrating every medium from mainstream newspapers to day-time television talk shows. Waters refined his obsession with "good bad taste"—a term he coined—over several decades, creating a new movie genre of the bizarre, according to director David Lynch.
Waters identifies himself as a writer foremost, but he is an example of an entrepreneur who uses many channels effectively. His witty essays have been collected in two volumes, Shock Value (1981) and Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters (1983); collections of his screenplays and photographs also have been published. He has made a handful of cameo appearances in films and television programs, including the voice for a cartoon character in an Emmy-nominated episode of The Simpsons. In the 1990s, he mounted an traveling exhibit of movie stills. A charming talk-show guest, Waters is in demand as a speaker at college campuses, film schools, and festivals.
The director's opus may be grouped into two periods.
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