Role Models [Hardcover]

John Waters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 25, 2010

Here, from the incomparable John Waters, is a paean to the power of subversive inspiration that will delight, amuse, enrich—and happily horrify readers everywhere.

Role Models is, in fact, a self-portrait told through intimate profiles of favorite personalities—some famous, some unknown, some criminal, some surprisingly middle-of-the-road. From Esther Martin, owner of the scariest bar in Baltimore, to the playwright Tennessee Williams; from the atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair to the insane martyr Saint Catherine of Siena; from the English novelist Denton Welch to the timelessly appealing singer Johnny Mathis—these are the extreme figures who helped the author form his own brand of neurotic happiness.

Role Models is a personal invitation into one of the most unique, perverse, and hilarious artistic minds of our time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The director of the gross-out epic Pink Flamingos and other cinematic provocations salutes the people he finds inspiring—himself foremost among them—in these self-regarding essays. Waters's role models range from icons like Johnny Mathis and Tennessee Williams to a gay reality-porn auteur, a lesbian stripper called Lady Zorro, and ex-Charles Manson groupie and murderer Leslie Van Houten. When he pays attention to them, Waters produces vivid portraits of his subjects, especially those with really lurid backstories, but he's happier when the spotlight is on him and his studied outrageousness. He discusses celebrity (I've... gone out drinking with Clint Eastwood, and spent several New Year's Eve parties in Valentino's chalet in Gstaad, but what I like best is staying home and reading) and the graphic pornography on his walls, and regales readers with scatological scandals, disdaining religious beliefs while graciously tolerating people who hold them. In the end, Waters's war against the tyranny of good taste feels tired, his taboo-breaking rote, his kitsch-mongering snobbish (taken on a tour of the Vatican, he refuses to leave the gift shop and its hideously pious cards). (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

As familiar as Waters' obsessions have become over the years, writes the Onion AV Club, "he remains an affable, enthusiastic tour guide to the sort of beauty found only at the edges of good taste." Such beauty includes the profane, the violent, and the shocking, but it's par for the course for this once transgressive filmmaker and his insightful, obnoxious, and entertaining essays. Only the essay "Leslie," about Waters's friendship with Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, serving a life sentence for murder, raised debate. A few reviewers found the essay reflective, while others condemned Waters for dodging "the murky moral issues of her story" (Los Angeles Times). Role Models isn't for everyone--but even "dilettantes at liberty to skip around will find a lot to charm them" (New York Times Book Review).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (May 25, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374251479
• ISBN-13: 978-0374251475
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Waters is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and visual artist best known for his cult films, including Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, and Cecil B. DeMented. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loads of Fun on Audio, July 8, 2010

By 

Amanda J. Henning "bond_girl_double07" (Marysville, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Role Models (Audio CD)

Waters is a fantastic narrator and his new book is absolutely hilarious (but also very touching at points). I've honestly been forcing anybody who rides in my car this week to listen to the section about Lady Zorro and I'll start forcing everybody to listen to the section on Esther Martin next week. Honestly, despite other reviews that talk about his trashy side, I'm amazed how sweet and kind he comes across. From one bleeding heart liberal to another, I absolutely love this book :)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thw World of Waters, July 4, 2010

By 

Richard A. Jenkins "Richard A. Jenkins" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Role Models (Hardcover)

John Waters always has elicited strong opinions from people and that seems evident here in the early reviews. Anyone who has seen or heard Waters being interviewed or seen him emcee a show will recognize the tone and style here. He rambles entertainingly through the book, with on-target observations that integrate references that range from the absurd to the refined. The chapters vary in their quality. Some passages are laugh out loud funny, but some sections drag. The chapter on Leslie Van Houten becomes rather tedious and didactic, in places, although Waters raises worthwhile questions about rehabilitation and the grandstanding of prosecutors. The section on his art collection betrayed perhaps a need to be taken seriously even as he collects pieces that most people who find academically interesting, at most. Waters' parents do not get their own chapter, but they are always present and come across as people who supported Waters' development and work in surprising ways while remaining very much the conventional parents of their time. At the same time, Waters confronts the problems and limitations of some of the eccentric Baltimore characters he had idolized, like Zorro, the lesbian stripper whose daughter somehow thrived despite a chaotic, problem-ridden environment. Despite focusing on role models, Waters creates a world where neither nature nor nurture seem to triumph. His conservative, conventional parents wound up with "The Pope of Filth" for a son, while Zorro winds up with an apparently very conventional, well-adjusted daughter. Waters lives in a world where the classic 1950s songs of Johnny Mathis co-exist with a fringe gay pornographer like Bobby Garcia, and Leslie Van Houten of the Manson Family. Somehow the only really discordant note was the repeated mention of Elton John who seems neither fringe nor conventional, nor particularly interesting.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Waters speaks his mind - literally - in the audiobook version. Not for sensitive ears., June 30, 2010

By 

Steven I. Ramm "Steve Ramm "Anything Phon... (Phila, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Role Models (Audio CD)

Other reviews here on Amazon are of the print edition of this book. This covers the audio CD version, published by Tantor Audio, and read by the inimitable Mr. Waters himself.

I must admit that I'm a big fan of writer/director/author Waters, but I began with his more mainstream movies such as "Hairspray" and "Cry Baby". I learned a lot more about him in watching his one-man show (captured on DVD) titled "This Filthy Life", where he discusses his growing up gay (from as far back as he remembers) through his film career. I thoroughly enjoyed that show where he did use "shock value" when needed.

This book is not an autobiography but in telling us about the famous -and infamous - folks he's met in his life Waters reveals a lot about his life. He's always been opinionated - one of the traits I've like about him - and he provides lots of those here. The book stats out with a story about singer Johnny Mathis that is wonderful (or should I say "Wonderful, Wonderful" to quote one of Mathis' early hit records). Then he moves on to former member of the Charles Manson "gang", Leslie van Houten, who he has spent the last 35 years visiting in prison, and lobbying for her release. This story fills nearly an hour of the 7-½ hour book. It is not what you expect from Waters and it does show his compassion. The next longest section is about the fashion designer who styles his clothes. This is followed by the story of a lesbian stripper named Zorro. At about this point in the book, the author turns scatological in his stories. Not only do the two filmmakers in the Porno section make gay films, they have their "actors" (I use that world loosely) do some pretty outrageous things and the words are about as rough as you'll find anywhere. But then it's on to the story of the time Playboy magazine sent Waters to interview rock and roll icon Little Richard which rivals the Mathis section for fun and facts. There are other "role models" here but those are the ones that stand out - at least for me.

Listening to Water on this audio is like hearing him lecture live. Not once did I get the feeling he was reading from the printed page. And I was impressed by his compassion and enthusiasm. If all the stories were like those of Mathis, Little Richard and van Houten I'd give this book 5 stars, even with Waters using the occasional four-letter word. But grossness of the language and images in other sections, placed there, obviously, for shock value or to "push the envelope" turned me off enough to downgrade two stars. Yes, there is the "skip button", but I wanted to give him a chance. If this were a movie it would be rated NC-17. Be forwarded before you listen to this among friends little tolerance for anything beyond the "F-word".

Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"