This week was a really interesting one, and it’s my favorite one so far. We watched John Waters masterpiece Pink Flamingos and I was totally blown away. Then we discussed How transgression is described in cult films and the art of camp. After that we had two presentations on some movies that I happen to love. All in all, this week felt really great as far as class participation. People were reacting out loud with gasps and groans of disgusts along with laughs during our screening, and the class seemed much more engaged in the discussions that we were having about the readings. The presentations were really well done and there was a lot to love about both movies presented. I think I’ll start with the movie presentations. The first movie that was presented was Troll 2. This is a movie I’ve seen multiple times and it’s one of my brother’s favorite movies. He’s a huge fan, and even likes the first Troll which I learned has absolutely nothing to do with the sequel. The production of the movie looks hilarious, and I really want to see the documentary on it. The director seems really funny and he thinks it’s not a bad movie but I’m just glad he made a movie like it, we need more movies like it. The next movie we talked about was The Black Cauldron. This is one of my favorite Disney movies (along with another movie Disney wants you to forget, Atlantis!) The presentation was super concise and I like that it was focused on the Dark Ages of Disney, which Disney desperately wants people to forget. I personally think they should embrace that period, there’s quite a bit to be learned from that period and it’s ridiculous that Disney just doesn’t care about it.
Now I want to talk about Pink Flamingos. Wow. Just wow. I absolutely loved it. I’ve got a thing for amateur movies where I want to watch as much of them as possible. Having seen some of John Waters later works, I couldn’t believe this was the same guy who did Hairspray. I mean, seriously?! He is just so talented, to say nothing of the excellent cast in this movie. This movie made me feel like I needed to take a shower afterwards and I loved every second of it. I almost want to say this should be the first movie shown to people in this class just because of how shocking it is, but based off of some other people’s blog posts, I think it’s better that we worked our way up to it because I’m surprised some people even stuck around for it. My favorite scene was the singing asshole scene. It was just so shocking and funny to me. I was losing it and laughing so hard it was great. If I could crack open John Water’s head and see what goes on in there I still don’t think I’d get it. He’s a genius. I mean WOW. I won’t talk much more about it because I still don’t think I’ve had enough time to comprehend it yet, but I’m absolutely showing my brother it. He’ll love it.
Cult Movies 
Once I left the movies, I was still trying to comprehend what I have just watched. I enjoyed the movie and didn’t know what to expect but it was entertaining from beginning to end. She was in hiding and had to come out of retirement because someone was testing her filthiness. The couple didn’t know what they were going up against but thought they were unstoppable but at the end were covered with tare and feathers and shot in the head. I would tell the couple to pick on someone their own size because Divine is bigger and filthier. It was sad to learn that Divine died of a heart attack after I looked him up.
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I really love into how much detail you went on how you felt after watching Pink Flamingos and I can pretty much agree with every word you said. There was so many things going on in this movie that were just mind blowing that by the end it was hard to comprehend what I had actually just watched. John Waters has really evolved so much in his directing and producing of movies like you said, crazy how he goes from this to Hairspray. I also agree about what it would be like to crack open his head. There would probably be so many ideas on and crazy things in his mind that we wouldn’t be able to understand half of them!
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For any movie, I usually understand how I feel about it immediately after I watch a movie. But just like you, it has taken me longer to comprehend this movie and understand how I feel about it. I don’t even know how I still really feel about the movie. Also, Atlantis is definitely a forgotten Disney movie and I love watching that film every time I watch it, which can be often for me.
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I absolutely loved reading your reaction to Pink Flamingos. It’s clear that you really did enjoy the movie, and the enthusiasm you use when talking about it really surprised me. It definitely wasn’t my kind of screening, but I’m glad to see it being appreciated for exactly what it was: a good film purposefully made in bad taste. I agree with what you said about cracking open Waters’ head to see inside. It’s crazy to try to understand what must be going on inside of a person’s head that leads them to pursue creating movies like this.
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