Episode #29 -- Pink Flamingos

(or: "Just How Uncomfortable Can Two People Get While Talking About the
Details of a Movie's Plot? The Answer May Surprise You!")

(or: "Just How Uncomfortable Can Two People Get While Talking About the Details of a Movie's Plot? The Answer May Surprise You!")

The answer probably won't surprise you.

Pink Flamingos is John Water's 1972 epic about the battle between Divine and a couple, the Marbles, for the title of the Filthiest Person/People Alive. And boy oh boy, do they do their damnedest to earn that title. Generally speaking, we're not prudes or easily offended, and yet when Tara picked this movie our gut reactions both externally (Tara) and internally (Andrew) were "oh shit". Appropriate! There is one particular scene from the movie whose reputation preceded it, and word of that scene alone had served as enough of a deterrent for the both of us. If you've seen Pink Flamingos or know anything about it, you know what we're talking about. If you haven't... well, you're going to hear about it when you listen to the episode! You're going to hear a lot about it! And as it turns out, as traumatic as that scene is to watch, there are a few other scenes in the movie that are equally as difficult to watch, if not more so. Pink Flamingos is a movie that shows up in several "[x] Movies You Need to See Before You Die" lists, and we pity the fools who walk into it blind after watching Citizen Kane or Casablanca or Dunston Checks In.

(as a side note, we struggled a little bit with which pronouns we should use when talking about Divine, and settled on using feminine pronouns while discussing the character in the movie, and male pronouns while discussing the actor-- apologies in advance if we fucked up!)