i feel like i need to take a shower
this morning on the bus i listened to this fresh air piece about john waters and his support for the release of leslie van houten, one of the original members of the manson ‘family.’ an admission: i have not seen any of his films, although from reading the descriptions, i must say that im not wholly disappointed in that gap of my cinematic vocabulary. anyway, he gives this very creepy interview to terri gross wherein he describes his friendship with ms. van houten, who by all accounts seems to be both repentant and reformed - although she has been repeated denied parole, due to the [understandably] vehement opposition from the victim’s families. waters seems to have taken her cause upon himself, which, you know, seems fine - albeit slightly strange coming from someone who played a substantial role in romanticizing/fetishizing the entire scandal to begin with. but what really got me, beyond even the gross moralizing about forgiveness for past sins towards what i assume is already probably a pretty sympathetic audience, is the fact that his selflessness conveniently corresponds to the publication of his book, Role Models, wherein he profiles a series of people to whose standards we should apparently aspire. you can read the first chapter, about his relation with van houten, here - although im not sure i recommend it: his self-serving mea culpa for the role he played at the beginning of the sordid affair only serves to set the ball for the inevitable “how fucking good of a guy am i?” spike that follows. truly offensive.
in sum: a man of [what appears to be] immensely bad taste feels the need to lecture the us on why we should be looking towards convicted murders / brainwashed cult members for lessons on humanity and strong will. certainly he can’t be accused inconsistency.
im sure waters has enough self-awareness as an iconoclast/parasite to realize what he is doing is incredibly seductive to news agencies. im just a little disappointed that npr fucking fell for it.
