History Creator / JohnWaters

* BlackComedyRape: In ''Multiple Maniacs'', Lady Divine is raped by a giant lobster called Lobstora. [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext For no apparent reason.]]

%%* {{Camp}}:
* CampGay[=/=]StraightGay: One of the few people who manages to somehow embody both aspects at once.

* CringeComedy

* ExploitationFilm

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: ''Mondo Trasho'' has yet to see DVD release due to rights issues (Waters took the soundtrack from his own records collection), but was released on VHS, making it rare but available.

* PublicDomainFeatureFilms: ''Mondo Trasho'' was never properly copyrighted due to Waters using licensed music without permission and his OldShame towards the final cut.
* RefugeInAudacity: '''Yes'''. Screenings of ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' handed out vomit bags called "Pink Phlegmingos".

* [[ItsPopularNowItSucks True Art Is Not Popular]]: Invoked in a criticism of the standards of the art world:
-->"In the art world, if everyone likes your art, it's terrible."

John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946 in UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, Maryland) is an American director, actor, screenwriter, producer, and owner of a [[GoodHairEvilHair badass pencil moustache]]. He spent much of the 1970s and '80s making low-budget exploitation films, such as ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' and ''Film/FemaleTrouble'', before achieving (relative) mainstream acceptance with ''Film/{{Hairspray|1988}}'' in 1988.

Waters' films are all [[CreatorProvincialism shot in and take place in his hometown of Baltimore]], are [[RefugeInAudacity packed with as much sleaze as possible]], and [[CrossesTheLineTwice celebrate trashy Americana]] through a distinctive {{camp}} lens, with kitschy fashions and gaudy designs featured prominently. They also employ a [[ProductionPosse regular troupe of actors]] largely drawn from Waters' circle of friends and known as the Dreamlanders, chief among them the late [[{{DragQueen}} drag performer]] Creator/{{Divine|Actor}}.

Waters' films are all [[CreatorProvincialism filmed in and take place in his hometown of Baltimore]], are [[RefugeInAudacity packed with as much sleaze as possible]], and [[CrossesTheLineTwice celebrate trashy Americana]] through a distinctive {{camp}} lens, with kitschy fashions and gaudy designs featured prominently. They also employ a [[ProductionPosse regular troupe of actors]] largely drawn from Waters' circle of friends and known as the Dreamlanders, chief among them the late [[{{DragQueen}} drag performer]] Creator/{{Divine|Actor}}.

+ UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, Creator/TennesseeWilliams, Creator/KennethAnger, Jean Genet, Creator/PierPaoloPasolini, Creator/DianeArbus, Howdy Doody, Rei Kawakubo, Music/JohnnyMathis, Larry Clark, Music/LittleRichard, Russ Meyer, Creator/IngmarBergman, Creator/MarquisDeSade, Rainer Werner Fassbender, Creator/HerschellGordonLewis ]

[[quoteright:317:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnwaters.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:317:Not Creator/SteveBuscemi.]]

John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946 in UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, Maryland) is an American director, producer, actor, screenwriter, and owner of a [[GoodHairEvilHair badass pencil moustache]]. He spent much of the '70s and '80s making low-budget exploitation films, such as ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' and ''Female Trouble'', before achieving relative mainstream acceptance with ''Film/{{Hairspray|1988}}'' in 1988.

Waters' films all [[CreatorProvincialism take place in his hometown of Baltimore]], are [[RefugeInAudacity packed with as much sleaze as possible]], and [[CrossesTheLineTwice celebrate trashy Americana]], with [[{{Camp}} awful fashion and gaudy designs]] featured prominently. He also has a [[ProductionPosse regular group of actors]], known as the Dreamlanders, chief among them the late [[{{DragQueen}} drag performer]] Creator/{{Divine|Actor}}.

John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946 in UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, Maryland) is an American director, producer, actor, screenwriter, and owner of a [[GoodHairEvilHair badass pencil moustache]]. He spent much of the '70s and '80s making low-budget exploitation films, such as ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' and ''Female Trouble'', before achieving relative mainstream acceptance with ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' in 1988.

* ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' (1988)

John Waters (born April 22, 1946) is an American director, producer, actor, screenwriter, and owner of a [[GoodHairEvilHair badass pencil moustache]]. He spent much of the '70s and '80s making low-budget exploitation films, such as ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' and ''Female Trouble'', before achieving relative mainstream acceptance with ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' in 1988.

* MissingEpisode: Waters refuses to release his first three films in any format, and they have not appeared since their original showings. This may be in part due to their presentation; ''Roman Candles'', for example, consists of three separate reels of footage shown on three screens simultaneously, without sound, as a separate audio recording plays. This isn't something you can replicate on a DVD player (he did have ''Roman Candles'' transferred to videotape in the 1980s, using a 4-panel split screen, with one screen left blank, which he has shown at festival and academic screenings).

Waters's films all [[CreatorProvincialism take place in his hometown of Baltimore]], are [[RefugeInAudacity packed with as much sleaze as possible]], and [[CrossesTheLineTwice celebrate trashy Americana]], with [[{{Camp}} awful fashion and gaudy designs]] featured prominently. He also has a [[ProductionPosse regular group of actors]], known as the Dreamlanders, chief among them the late [[{{DragQueen}} drag performer]] Creator/{{Divine|Actor}}.

* {{Camp}}

* MissingEpisode: While not missing/lost in the same way as, say, ''London After Midnight'', Waters refuses to release his first three films in any format, and they have not appeared since their original showings. This may be in part due to their presentation; ''Roman Candles'', for example, consists of three separate reels of footage shown on three screens simultaneously, without sound, as a separate audio recording plays. This isn't something you can replicate on a DVD player (he did have ''Roman Candles'' transferred to videotape in the 1980s, using a 4-panel split screen, with one screen left blank, which he has shown at festival and academic screenings).

+ UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, Creator/TennesseeWilliams, Creator/KennethAnger, Jean Genet, Creator/PierPaoloPasolini, Creator/DianeArbus, Howdy Doody, Rei Kawakubo, Johnny Mathis, Larry Clark, Music/LittleRichard, Russ Meyer, Creator/IngmarBergman, Creator/MarquisDeSade, Rainer Werner Fassbender, Creator/HerschellGordonLewis ]

* CityOfWeirdos: Baltimore

* ''Film/HagInABlackLeatherJacket'' (1964)
* ''Film/RomanCandles'' (1966)
* ''Film/EatYourMakeup'' (1968)
* ''Film/MondoTrasho'' (1969)
* ''Film/TheDianeLinkletterStory'' (1970)

* ''Film/ADirtyShame'' (2004)

* BlackComedyRape: In ''Multiple Maniacs,'' Lady Divine is raped by a giant lobster called Lobstora. For no apparent reason.
** The Chicken Rape in ''Pink Flamingos''. Made even worse by the fact that ''they '''actually''' raped that chicken.''

* InsultBackfire: Rex Reed had hated ''Female Trouble'', to the point that in his review he had asked, "Where do these people come from? Where do they go when the sun goes down? Isn't there a law or something?" The quote was posted on the Waverly Theater poster, and in Village Voice ads for the film. When ''Female Trouble'' was released on [=DVD=], this quote was on the front of its box.

** Waters told the film critic Dennis Dermody that vomit was like a standing ovation, and Dermody, who was working in one of the theaters at that time, said he'd had to clean up about three ovations a night.
* SelfDeprecation: Appears at the start and end of Music/TheLonelyIsland's song "The Creep", as apparently, to be a certified creeper, you need to look like John Waters.

-->Waters told the film critic Dennis Dermody that vomit was like a standing ovation, and Dermody, who was working in one of the theaters at that time, said he'd had to clean up about three ovations a night.

Waters's films all [[CreatorProvincialism take place in his hometown of Baltimore]], are [[RefugeInAudacity packed with as much sleaze as possible]], and [[CrossesTheLineTwice celebrate trashy Americana]], with [[{{Camp}} awful fashion and gaudy designs]] featured prominently. He also has a [[ProductionPosse regular group of actors]], known as the Dreamlanders, chief among them the late [[{{DragQueen}} drag performer]] Divine.

* AffectionateParody: Of SoBadItsGood [[BMovie B-Movies]].

* CanonDiscontinuity: Did not include ''The Diane Linkletter Story'' in his filmography in his first [[{{Biography}} autobiography]] ''Shock Value.'' May be a case of CreatorBacklash, as he mainly made it to test out a new camera he had.

* CreatorProvincialism: All of his movies are set in Baltimore.

* GenreShift: ''Polyester'' was his first step toward the mainstream. It took him to ''Hairspray'' to actually get there, but, it is the earliest film of his that Leonard Maltin includes a review of in his books.
* GrossoutShow: Many of his movies would qualify. Especially ''Pink Flamingos''.

* MissingEpisode: While not missing/lost in the same way as, say, ''London After Midnight'', Waters refuses to release his first three movies in any format, and they have not appeared since their original showings. This may be in part due to their presentation; ''Roman Candles'', for example, consists of three separate reels of footage shown on three screens simultaneously, without sound, as a separate audio recording plays. This isn't something you can replicate on a DVD player (he did have ''Roman Candles'' transferred to videotape in the 1980s, using a 4-panel split screen, with one screen left blank, which he has shown at festival and academic screenings).

* RefugeInAudacity: '''Yes'''. Screenings of ''Film/PinkFlamingos'' handed out vomit bags called "Pink Phlegmingos."

* StylisticSuck: All his movies are intentionally trashy.
* TactfulTranslation: Brought ''Female Trouble'' to a film festival in Antwerp, usefulNotes/{{Belgium}}. While describing the film, the translator became so appalled at what Waters was saying that she stopped translating his comments and started telling the audience something completely different. Because Waters doesn't speak Dutch, he didn't know this was happening until someone told him afterwards.

-->Waters told the film critic Dennis Dermody that vomit was like a standing ovation, and Dermody, who was working in one of the theaters at that time, said he’d had to clean up about three ovations a night.

* TactfulTranslation: Brought ''Female Trouble'' to a film festival in Antwerp, Belgium. While describing the film, the translator became so appalled at what Waters was saying that she stopped translating his comments and started telling the audience something completely different. Because Waters doesn't speak Dutch, he didn't know this was happenening until someone told him afterwards.

Waters's films all [[CreatorProvincialism take place in his hometown of Baltimore]], are [[RefugeInAudacity packed with as much sleaze as possible]], and [[CrossesTheLineTwice celebrate trashy Americana]], with [[{{Camp}} awful fashion and gaudy designs]] featured prominently. He also has a [[ProductionPosse regular group of actors]], chief among them the late [[{{DragQueen}} drag performer]] Divine.

* {{Transgenders}}

[[caption-width-right:317:Not Creator/SteveBuscemi. Or SelfDemonstrating/{{Sinestro}}.]]

+ {{Baltimore}}, Creator/TennesseeWilliams, Creator/KennethAnger, Jean Genet, Creator/PierPaoloPasolini, Creator/DianeArbus, Howdy Doody, Rei Kawakubo, Johnny Mathis, Larry Clark, Music/LittleRichard, Russ Meyer, Creator/IngmarBergman, Creator/MarquisDeSade, Rainer Werner Fassbender, Creator/HerschellGordonLewis ]

* {{Transsexual}}s

+ {{Baltimore}}, Creator/TennesseeWilliams, KennethAnger, Jean Genet, PierPaoloPasolini, DianeArbus, Howdy Doody, Rei Kawakubo, Johnny Mathis, Larry Clark, Music/LittleRichard, Russ Meyer, IngmarBergman, Creator/MarquisDeSade, Rainer Werner Fassbender, Herschell Gordon Lewis ]