Culture

We Spoke With John Waters About Cruising, the Evolution of Queer Culture, And More


When I speak to John Waters, he doesn’t know that 12 years ago, I saw him speak at my university, or that afterward, he signed the back pocket of my jeans. He doesn’t know I still have these jeans, or that I am wearing clothing covered in pink flamingos. He doesn’t know I was barely able to sleep last night because I was so excited and nervous to speak to him, this man who made a living being unapologetically himself and allowing others the opportunity to do the same. But I put on my professional voice and we chat, and he is just as charming and witty as you’d hope he’d be.

As a filmmaker, spoken word performer, and writer, Waters became beloved for his rebellion against good taste, always executed with a wink and a smile. And yet, he never expected to become beloved at all — much less to become mainstream. But there’s no denying that the man lovingly called The Pope of Trash is just that; after all, he’s an officer of the French Order of Arts and has a career achievement award from the Writer’s Guild of America. It’s put him in what he finds is an unusual position to give advice, which he does nonetheless in his new memoir, Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder, out tomorrow from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

In it, Waters tackles ways to live your life related to everything from filmmaking to sex clubs, from monkey art to Andy Warhol, all with his signature filthy tongue planted firmly in cheek. He advocates for an army of transgender people to rise up in militant fashion to crush bigotry, and even teaches readers how to cheat death. Whether you’re a fan of the filmmaker’s work or not, you’re as likely to be entertained as you are enlightened by the stories and wisdom contained within.

Below, them. spoke to Waters about why cruising is on the decline, the power of bad reviews, the changing nature of queer culture, and more.

Why is filth still important?

I think camp, trash, all those words are kind of used up — I don’t know that they have a meaning anymore. “Filth” still has a punch to it, it’s a little more punk. I say it with complete respect. Filth is about respecting rebellion and anger, and I always think it’s very important to be angry when you’re young. I’m still angry about things, but I’m not bitter. An angry 73-year-old is kind of pitiful and an angry 23-year-old is sexy. So I think you have to work some things out as you get older. This book is about how to do that and how to let go no matter what your parents were like. Don’t try to just shock them, too. Eventually you have to make a truce with the things that drive you crazy.

What made you decide to position this book as advice?

I always thought that would be sort of ironic because I somehow became respectable. I’m really proud I got the Writer’s Guild Award and was named an officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters, but it is kind of ironic because I didn’t get a good review for the first 10 years of my career. Me giving advice would have been unthinkable a long time ago. I guess it’s really to inspire other people to just stick around, keep doing what you’re doing, and hopefully one day if people can’t get rid of you they’ll accept you.

What still scares you about releasing your work into the world, and are those things different than they used to be?



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