Why Art Matters: director John Waters

Awesomely sick bastard.

I'm going to keep this one short and use one scene to explain the odd appeal of shock/schlock director John Waters.

In his mainstream breakthrough movie Hairspray, Waters has teens Tracy and Penny dancing and making out with boyfriends Seaweed and Linc in an alleyway after a record hop at Motormouth Maybelle's shop. Kicking a rat aside, with Toussant McCall playing a homeless man while singing "Nothing Takes the Place of You," Tracy sighs and says to Linc, "Isn't this romantic?"

There is something so nakedly truthful about that scene and Tracy's sentiment.