DivineDemento

As America in the 1970’s was being confronted with its own twisted and sordid underbelly, Britain was grappling with being a nation in a gradual state of decay. At a time of civil unrest, financial strife and cultural escapism, two musicals combined the time’s adoration for shock,   gender bending and glamour with a twisted warning to all outsiders. *Warning - Spoilers Throughout* In my first post I explored the reaction against the corruption of early 70’s American culture in contemporary exploitation cinema. Though the tension in Europe was different to that experienced in America (which was derived more from America’s decreasing status as a financial and political superpower), tensions still ran high throughout the early 1970’s. In Britain, this was particularly felt – recession, inept governments, civil unrest and the ever-encroaching threat of Cold War loomed over the public consciousness. LikeAmerica, Britain fought in, and embarrassingly lost, several battles and c...

Even today, the AID’s epidemic of the 1980’s remains a dark and sombre topic for queer people the world over. At a time when sex between men was made abject, and governments used the disease to push for intrinsically homophobic legislation, director Clive Barker paired horror's recurring theme of sex-based fear with the tragedies of a queer generation. The fear of sex, or the demonization of the sexually promiscuous, is a common and sometimes controversial trope within the horror genre. Many horror directors would argue that their films do not create such a narrative. Though I would argue that this viewpoint is somewhat reductionist, the evidence is certainly there – think of the number of horror films where sexually promiscuous teenagers are brutally murdered (often women killed by hulking, emasculated men) whilst the sole virgin survives. Think of the use of phallic murder weapons such as knives and chainsaws, or perhaps even the entire rape-revenge sub-genre that came to p...

In 1972 and 1974, Pink Flamingos and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre were two of many American movies that exploited the nations fear of social and moral collapse. Both films depicted families living in violation of our most basic ideas of dignity. So why does Divine, and her family of misfits, inspire generation upon generation of queers and outcasts, whilst Leatherface continues to inspire terror? I would wholeheartedly argue that Pink Flamingos , the breakout hit for both director John Waters and the original Drag Superstar Divine, is the most important queer film of all time. Its reputation is legendary, the level of disgust it inspires infamous. It follows Divine and her misfit family, who are hiding out in a trailer somewhere outside Baltimore. They are forced to put their peaceful existence of hold when Connie and Raymond Marble attempt to steal Divine’s title of ‘Filthiest Person Alive’. What results is an ever-escalating tornado of taboo-breaking acts, including singing s...