Pink Flamingos: A film for the “filthiest people alive”
Most cinephiles would call “shock value” a cheap ploy; however, in a film like this, it’s not a ploy— it’s the whole plot. In honor of the movie’s 50th anniversary, the Coral Gables Art Cinema had two showings of Pink Flamingos this month in 35mm, and I was able to catch one of them. Like most of John Waters’s films, Pink Flamingos is divisive. Some get it and some don’t. During the most controversial scenes, watching audience members slowly start to trickle out of the theater became almost as entertaining as the movie. And by the end of the film, only the “filthiest'' moviegoers remained. If there is only one thing you take away from this article, let it be this: Pink Flamingos is not for the weak stomached.
The movie begins with a shot of a trailer home surrounded by pink flamingos. We are then introduced to its inhabitants: our main character Babs Johnson (played by famous drag queen Divine) and her eccentric family. There’s Mama Edie, who survives on a diet consisting solely of eggs and spends most of the movie seated in a baby crib, and then we have Babs’s son Crackers and his girlfriend Cotton. In the film, Babs holds the title of “filthiest person alive,” and our antagonists, Connie and Raymond Marble, spend the rest of the film trying to prove that they are more deserving of the title. This results in many crude demonstrations of filth, as one would imagine. Connie and Raymond are shown running a baby ring where they kidnap young girls, impregnate them, and sell the offspring to wealthy lesbian couples. One of the more disturbing scenes in the film shows Cotton watching Crackers and another woman having sex with a live chicken and crushing it between them. But the most famous gross-out scene occurs towards the end of the film, where Babs is shown eating dog poop and grinning towards the camera. John Waters swears that the scene was not simulated and Divine truly did eat dog poop for the film
The level of commitment the actors had in carrying out these scenes is what makes up for the fact that the acting in this film is terrible. It feels like I am watching a couple of Waters's friends give acting their best shot. However, the cheesy performances ended up serving as a crutch to make the debauchery in this film easy to stomach. I wouldn’t have found myself laughing hysterically if not for the actors reminding me that this movie isn’t meant to be taken so seriously. And maybe that is why audiences love it so much. There are disturbing films which are meant to make audiences uncomfortable, but it is clear that uncomfortability is not Waters’s goal with this film. Pink Flamingos is a highly enjoyable comedy, but the irony is that the characters and their actions are revolting, and yet, audiences find themselves laughing to tears at the debauchery of it all. I never thought I would find myself laughing at something so vile, but Waters showed me in this film that inhumanity is rooted in humanity, and that in itself is comedy.
What I found so appealing about Pink Flamingos was its strong stance against conformity. Similar to how Rocky Horror Picture Show unites those who feel like they do not belong, Pink Flamingos appeals to audiences who share a resentment for moral hypocrisy, social politeness, and assimilation. The community that cult films create is part of why they stand the test of time. I feel very lucky to be able to have these experiences in arthouse theaters like Coral Gables Art Cinema. Watching cult films is an experience meant to be shared with a community of like-minded people, and as long as we have theaters that provide these spaces, movie-lovers will continue to enjoy films like Pink Flamingos for years to come.