Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Good Bad Taste

Today I pondered on the topic of transgressional art and the difference between good trash and bad trash. I would make my argument in my own words, but since I am so sleepy at the moment here is a quote from the lovely John Waters (because he puts it better than I could anyhow):

"Good trash is, you never look down on it. You look up to it. I'm in awe of really bad taste because I don't have that freedom. I'm not talking about hip bad taste–that's a completely different thing. I find it offensive that yuppies would have pink flamingos on their front lawn. But at the same time, if someone goes out and buys them because they think they're beautiful and puts them on their front lawn–to me, that is amazing, and I respect that. I find true bad taste freedom for many people. I don't look down on them, and I think that's the difference between 'good' bad taste and 'bad' bad taste -- that you don't feel superior to what you're satirizing."


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