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say, he shares the inclusive aims of today’s activ-
ists, minus the appetite for sanctimonious Twit-
ter threads. (Waters’ ubiquity does not extend to
social media.)
An optimistic read on why everyone wants a
piece of Waters these days would be that chang-
ing times have revealed the humanism underly-
ing his spectacles. As the aura of transgression
surrounding even his earliest, most extreme
movies fades, what remains is the filmmaker’s
endless fascination with his fellow man. What
kind of person wouldn’t adore Tracy Turnblad,
the plucky plus-size integrationist heroine of
Hairspray? But Waters also has affection for Di-
vine’s monstrously vain Dawn Davenport, from
Female Trouble, whose mad pursuit of beauty ul-
timately lands her in the electric chair.
“Everybody I write about, even the crazy
people in Liarmouth—I love them,” he says. “I
want to spend time with them. And I’m amazed
at human behavior. That’s what keeps me going:
to try to understand why people act the way
they do. If I didn’t do this”—by which I assume
he means make art in any and every feasible
medium—“I’d be a good shrink.”
Would it be fair to say that, throughout a ca-
reer commonly associated with the gross and the
subversive, Waters’ guiding principle has always
been radical acceptance? “Completely!” he ex-
claims, energized. “I try not to judge people’s be-
havior because I don’t know the backstory.”
For those who grew up loving him, it’s
gratifying to see Waters enjoy the same open-
mindedness he’s promoted for decades. Call him
an accepted radical, cherished by cinephiles and
cultists as well as the kids who flock to him at
airports following his cameo in an Alvin and the
Chipmunks movie. For his part, Waters is thrilled
to support young people in satirizing the pieties
and excesses of their own generations. “I’ve al-
ways made fun of rules,” he says. “In the ’60s, I
made fun of hippie rules, even though I was in
that world and my audience was in that world.
But there’s always extreme people, in all worlds,
that can laugh about it. And I think they’re the
survivors.” □
‘I try not
to judge
people’s
behavior
because
I don’t
know the
backstory.’
JOHN WATERS
PETER FISHER FOR TIME
