As I write this I’m suffering through a stomach flu that’s all but turned me inside out, and the timing could not be worse for re-watching John Waters’ Pink Flamingos. Among the stomach-churning sights: a turd in a box, a “singing” asshole, cannibalism, a sexual assault that results in real poultricide, furniture licking, graphic incest, genital mutilation and, of course, the topper: Divine, in full drag, eating dog shit. John Waters’ 1972 “exercise in bad taste” didn’t come by its reputation unfairly.
In our cover story, Waters describes the late drag queen star as his “monster.” Of course, while the initial sight of Divine is pretty shocking, once placed into the campy world of a Waters movie, she’s not to be feared but rather celebrated for her deviance. The monster…
