John Waters: Pope of Trash Opens at Academy Museum | Features

“Serial Mom” and a “Cecil B. Demented” are both given special sections. For people who love clothes, there’s a fuchsia pink lit costume gallery. As the exhibit ends, you’ll also see the segment from the 1997 “The Simpsons” episode “Homer’s Phobia,” as well as art from fans. Like the previous exhibit, “Regeneration: Black Cinema (1898-1971)” which was the Academy Museum’s first traveling exhibit and will open at the Detroit Institute of Arts next year (February 4th – June 23rd, 2024), “John Waters: Pope of Trash” is about representation, but there’s a tremendous sense of joy in both.

Waters is hoping that people take away “a sense of humor that knows that we never make our enemies feel stupid. We make them feel smart even when they are and get them to laugh and then we can get them to listen.”

“John Waters: Pope of Trash” continues at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles) until August 4th, 2024. The exhibit also has a hard cover catalogue ($59.95), a free app to style yourself as John Waters or a character from his films, and a film series that runs until October 28th, 2023. For tickets and more information, visit the AcademyMuseum.org website.

“John Waters: Pope of Trash” film series schedule is as follows:

Sept. 17 (Sunday):

3 p.m., “Eat Your Makeup” with live commentary by John Waters

7:30 p.m. “Serial Mom” with John Waters, Peaches Christ in attendance

Sept. 21 (Thursday): 7:30 p.m., “Multiple Maniacs”

Sept. 23 (Saturday): 7:30 p.m., “Pink Flamingos“

Sept. 28 (Thursday): 7:30 p.m., “Hairspray”

Oct. 20 (Friday): 7:30 p.m., “Desperate Living”

Oct. 26 (Thursday): 7:30 p.m., “Pecker” with “Cry-Baby“

Oct. 28 (Saturday): 7:30 p.m., “Cecil B. Demented” with “A Dirty Shame“

For tickets for the film program, visit AcademyMuseum.org.

All photos credited to Jana Monji.