Legendary cult creative John Waters, best known for his films like “Cry Baby” and “Hairspray,” has continued his reign as the “Prince of Puke” in the past decade touring his one-man-show, “This Filthy World.”
This past Thursday night, Nov. 5, Waters brought his show to Kobacker Hall to a sold-out audience.
The spoken-word show conveyed his up-to-date following of world events. Those in attendance learned of his affinity for Justin Bieber, his disappointment with trigger warning overuse and his musings about what he is going to do as he enters his 70s, all in the good spirit of raunch upon which he has built his reputation.
Waters discussed briefly his before and after experiences with some of his most popular films. Each one about different forms of deviancy, he never made much money off of his films, but still gained fame and ubiquity.
Today, he makes most of his money from the two books he has written. His memoir, “Role Models” is about all his influences, heroes and mentors that inspired him in his youth and throughout his life. His second, for which he is touring now, is “Carsick” in which he was given money and asked to do something and write about it; he decided to hitchhike from his home in Baltimore to his summer place in San Francisco.
In the question and answer session after the show, he was asked if he would make another film, to which he responded that it is not out of the question, but his last projects fell through. He has seen success with his tour and his books, so he is sticking with that. However, a children’s parody “Kiddie Flamingoes” is on his radar.
Friday morning Waters paid a visit to the Wolfe Center to speak to film, theatre and art undergrads.
He discussed film projects with a few aspiring film majors and also gave them some insight from his own experiences in the industry.
Students were visibly enamoured, which Waters handled with patience and compassion.
One heated topic he discussed was the pervasiveness of political correct or “PC” culture, in concurrence with his issues with trigger warnings.
“I make fun of the rules. It’s funny to me that the liberals now have more rules than the right. We need to always be able to make fun, and those who enforce rules so hard, they are usually the humor-impaired,” Waters said to the class.
“I thought you went to college to have your views challenged,” he said both at his show and to the classes, which was met with hoots and applause both times.
Tyler Austin, a senior film studies major, shared his feelings about John Waters visit.
“I was starstuck, I mean he is a legend,” Austin said.
Thomas Castillo, an assistant professor in the film department, said Waters is, “illustrative of the fact that there is no one single pathway forward in the world of film.”
As a part of the film department’s mission, they want students to have an idea of what kind of filmmaker they want to be, and with John Waters’ dismissal of the “cookie-cutter” mold, Castillo considers Waters to be the kind of professional students can learn a lot from.
He also appreciated Waters’ down to earth demeanor. Castillo said, “it was really cool to see someone whose films I watched growing up and had a formative influence (my older sister probably rented Hairspray, the original one, about 50 times) just kinda standing 5 feet away, shaking everyone’s hand, taking all questions and signing every autograph (after the show on Thursday). I think that speaks a lot to his roots as a filmmaker, which was based a lot in being a part of the subcultures and outsider communities that are so often a part of his films.”
Waters is very aware of his super-celebrity status and still makes an effort to maintain those relationships that got him his start 50 years ago. He will soon be embarking on his annual Christmas tour.
