My idea of rich is that you can buy every book you ever want without looking at the price and you're never around assholes. That's the two things to really fight for in life.
John WatersRead
To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits while watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation. But one must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Bad taste in entertainment can provoke strong reactions, and that response can be seen as a compliment.
John Waters suggests that the essence of entertainment often lies in pushing boundaries, even to the point of invoking negative reactions like disgust. He acknowledges that while some forms of 'bad taste' can be entertaining and artistic, there is a distinction between entertainingly bad taste and simply poor taste. This highlights the complex relationship between art, audience reaction, and the subjective nature of enjoyment.
Themes
Bad TasteEntertainmentArtReactionCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used when discussing controversial films in a film studies class.
More from John Waters
All quotes →Irony ruined everything Even the best exploitation movies were never meant to be `so bad they were good`. They were not made for the intelligentsia. They were made to be violent for real, or to be sexy for real. But now everybody has irony. Even horror films now are ironic. Everybody's in on the joke now. Everybody's hip. Nobody takes anything at face value anymore.
John WatersRead
I don't like rules of any kind. And I seek people who break rules with happiness - and not bringing pain to themselves.
John WatersRead
I believe if you come out of a movie and the first thing you say is, 'The cinematography was beautiful,' it's a bad movie.
John WatersRead
To understand bad taste one must have very good taste.
John WatersRead
'Hairspray' maybe did change people's minds, and that's how you get your political enemies to change their minds - by making them laugh and making them look at something in a way they haven't seen it. Not by preaching and cutting them off and being a separatist.
John WatersRead
Similar quotes
My wife Martha used to call me Ol' Lemon Face because of my facial contortions when I play Lucille. I squeeze my eyes and open my mouth, raise my eyebrows, cock my head and God knows what else. I look like I'm in torture, when in truth, I'm in ecstasy. I don't do it for show. Every fiber of my being is tingling.
B. B. KingRead
Fiction is life with the dull bits left out.
Clive JamesRead
The most despairing songs are the most beautiful, and I know some immortal ones that are pure tears.
Alfred De MussetRead
Writing is a solitary experience. I'm extremely superstitious. If I talk about the book or name the title out loud before finishing, I feel the energy I need to write will be drained. It's so intimate, I can't even share it with my wife.
Paulo CoelhoRead
I stare out the window and reflect on the similarity between writing and saving a life and the inevitable failure of one's imagination and one's goals and ambitions to create a character or a life worth saving.
Miriam ToewsRead
If each photograph steals a bit of the soul, isn't it possible that I give up pieces of mine every time I take a picture?
Richard AvedonRead