John Waters' (who I have mixed feelings about these days) old movies (e.g. Female Misbehavior, Serial Mom, and Pink Flamingos) were very influential to me in a positive way. I loved how women could be fat, vulgar, ugly, poor, criminal, perverse and just plain bad-ass and still be considered joyous, hilarious, fashionable, and worthy of the greatest admiration. I loved the idea of mocking the conservative, heterosexual suburban culture of gender-stereotyped nuclear families that I grew up in and instead making the ideal something completely opposite. Like in Female Misbehavior when a mother is trying to convince her son to be gay: "But you could change. Queers are just better." I adore Divine's showy, sexy, bold Fat Gyrl outfits! The notion that women don't need to be traditionally beautiful inside or out to be worshipped rocks my world!
