{"id":262307,"date":"2021-05-29T16:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T13:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-polyester-showed-divines-incredible-acting-range\/"},"modified":"2021-05-29T16:16:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T13:16:00","slug":"how-polyester-showed-divines-incredible-acting-range","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-polyester-showed-divines-incredible-acting-range\/","title":{"rendered":"#How &#8216;Polyester&#8217; Showed Divine&#8217;s Incredible Acting Range"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#How &#8216;Polyester&#8217; Showed Divine&#8217;s Incredible Acting Range<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.9--><em>Acting is an art form, and behind every iconic character is an artist expressing themselves. Welcome to\u00a0<strong>The Great Performances<\/strong>, a bi-weekly column exploring the art behind some of cinema\u2019s best roles. In this entry, we examine Divine\u2019s performance as Francine in John Waters\u2019 Polyester.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>There are a lot of masters of the midnight movie, but arguably none are more accessible than <strong>John Waters<\/strong>. His films have a way of t<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ing into our carnal desire to revel in the grotesque underbelly of suburbia in a way that feels both authentic and strangely relatable. Waters gets under our skin through his emphasis on the trashiest extremes of society, but we enjoy his films because he injects his bizarro-world Baltimore with outrageously endearing characters in love with shag carpets, macram\u00e9, and the incandescent aroma of polyester.<\/p>\n<p>Like other cult movie directors, Waters employs a dedicated company of eccentric character actors \u2014 called Dreamlanders \u2014 who\u2019ve worked with him consistently throughout his career. And while most of the Dreamlanders, from Mink Stole to Edith Massey, perfectly understood the tone and mood that Waters strived for in his narratives, no one embodied his aesthetic quite so purely as <strong>Divine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite appearing in almost all of Waters\u2019 films up to his untimely death in 1988, Divine\u2019s brand of full-throated performances is always boiled down to one singular scene from Waters\u2019 \u201cexercise in poor taste,\u201d <em>Pink Flamingos<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Towards the end of the 1972 film, after Divine\u2019s character, Babs Johnson, murders a couple trying to usurp her title as \u201cthe filthiest person alive,\u201d she proves herself worthy of the moniker by scooping up a fresh piece of dog poop, popping it into her mouth, and smiling slyly at the camera as Waters\u2019 narration declares Divine \u201cthe world\u2019s filthiest actress.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was a moment that instantly burned into cinephiles minds, and inarguably made Divine an overnight cult sensation as <em>Pink Flamingos<\/em> ran on the midnight movie circuit. While this scene beautifully illustrates Divine\u2019s brazen dedication to his craft, it also eclipses the nuances he layers into the outer extremes of every character he played.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why Divine\u2019s character, Francine, in Waters\u2019 1981 film <strong><em>Polyester<\/em><\/strong> is such an important moment in his career. He channeled the grotesqueness of his previous roles into an uncharacteristically restrained performance that manages to both fit perfectly in Waters\u2019 garish aesthetic and act as a subtle commentary on the evolution of the American Dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Divine was born Harris Glenn Milstead in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1945. His parents, Harris and Frances Milstead, had worked for a Black &amp; Decker factory through World War II, amassing considerable wealth that they lavished on their son. They were quick to cater to his whims, endlessly funding his expensive taste in clothing and cars, regardless of how steep of a bill he\u2019d rack up. <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=m0jQr2HfvsoC&amp;pg=PA14&amp;lpg=PA14&amp;dq=I+was+an+only+child+in,+I+guess,+your+upper+middle-class+American+family.+I+was+probably+your+American+spoiled+brat.%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=g6f9opUkhc&amp;sig=ACfU3U1TjO31D7mzokkHFuHFOmRstKLMAQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiQhIj1xNvwAhWxVN8KHemzAZsQ6AEwAnoECAIQAw#v=onepage&amp;q=I%20was%20an%20only%20child%20in%2C%20I%20guess%2C%20your%20upper%20middle-class%20American%20family.%20I%20was%20probably%20your%20American%20spoiled%20brat.%22&amp;f=false\">As he once said<\/a>, \u201cI was an only child in, I guess, your upper-middle-class American family. I was probably your American spoilt brat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Divine lived off of his parents\u2019 wealth, but he found a calling in hairdressing, wowing stylists with his ability to expertly coiff beehives and updos. He worked in salons and even held hairdressing parties after hours at his home. Following one of these parties in 1964, his friend Sally was found murdered, with Divine being the primary suspect in what local papers referred to as \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Not_Simply_Divine\/m0jQr2HfvsoC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;dq=Hairdressing+Party+Mystery&amp;pg=PA20&amp;printsec=frontcover\">The Hairdressing Party Mystery<\/a>.\u201d He was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, but it gave Divine his first taste of something that would fuel the rest of his career: notoriety.<\/p>\n<p>The incongruity of his humble suburban upbringing with his emerging sexuality and embrace of Baltimore counterculture are at the heart of what makes his performance as Francine come to life. Divine uniquely understood how repressive the traditional middle-class family could be, and he wanted to explore that in a comedy that lampooned the ideals of the American Dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Polyester<\/em>, Francine exists as the paragon of the traditional American Dream. She has a husband with a steady job, two children, and a house filled with creature comforts. Within that outward appearance, however, lies a web of deception, murderous intentions, and abject sexual depravity that is at odds with Francine\u2019s desires to live a normal life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rather than Divine being the driving force for <em>Polyester<\/em>\u2019s shocking comedy, he uses Francine to embody the antithesis of what he had been known for in Waters\u2019 past films. Divine still fills Francine with plenty of crass, but his performance isn\u2019t built around his character\u2019s grotesqueries like <em>Multiple Maniacs<\/em> or <em>Pink Flamingos<\/em>. We root for Francine because she is the victim of the story, not the victimizer. <\/p>\n<p>He plays Francine simply as a woman trying to navigate a world stacked against her. All she wants is love and stability, and she\u2019s willing to do anything for it. And it\u2019s in this emotional headspace that Divine, with a painted-on smile, finds Francine\u2019s joy. Because despite all the vulgar things that happen to her, she has this resilient spirit that is completely enchanting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even though Francine is unique because of the tenderness Divine imbues into her, none of that warmth would work if it wasn\u2019t contrasted by the exquisitely crafted camp layered into his character\u2019s most manic moments.<\/p>\n<p>Much of <em>Polyester<\/em>\u2019s humor comes from it being a satire of female-focused exploitation films from the 1950s that were centered on disillusioned housewives indulging in the sins of life. Throughout the film, we watch Francine hit rock bottom after rock bottom, abusing alcohol to help her cope with living with a verbally abusive husband, a delinquent daughter, and a foot-stomping son.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As her life spins further out of control, Divine ratchets up his commitment to dynamically expressing Francine\u2019s manic mood swings. In the film\u2019s finale, after Francine discovers that her new husband, Todd, is sleeping with her mother, she has a complete nervous breakdown, manically stroking her hair as she sinks to the ground, blubbering nonsense as she\u2019s forced to become a human footstool. It\u2019s over the top in the way you\u2019d expect from a performer like Divine, but we can appreciate this moment\u2019s hilariously overwrought melodrama even more because he humanized Francine so well in the film\u2019s opening acts.<\/p>\n<p>Before his death in 1988, Divine desperately wanted to be taken seriously as an actor, especially in male roles. He only had the chance to play three male characters in his career, two of which were for John Waters \u2014 in <em>Female Trouble<\/em> and <em>Hairspray<\/em> \u2014 and the last, <em>Out of the Dark<\/em>, was released posthumously in 1989. But I think Divine heartily proved himself as a serious actor with his work in <em>Polyester<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>Francine allowed audiences to clearly see the true range he possessed, removed from much of the debauchery and garishness that he had been known for. <em>Polyester<\/em> is still filled with Waters\u2019 signature brand of shock, but regardless of the high camp baked into Divine\u2019s performance, he still manages to break our hearts in a way the actresses he was satirizing never could.<\/p>\n<p>Divine may have been known for absurd characters, but it\u2019s really his genuine love of relishing in the outrageous that makes him such an incredibly fun actor to watch. With his performance in <em>Polyester<\/em>, we were treated to a different dimension of his talent. One that proved he was so much more than the stomach-churning extremes to which he was willing to go.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/divine-in-polyester\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=divine-in-polyester\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#How &#8216;Polyester&#8217; Showed Divine&#8217;s Incredible Acting Range&#8221; Acting is an art form, and behind every iconic character is an artist expressing themselves. Welcome to\u00a0The Great Performances, a bi-weekly column exploring the art behind some of cinema\u2019s best roles. In this entry, we examine Divine\u2019s performance as Francine in John Waters\u2019 Polyester. There are a lot&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":262308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Divine_2.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[89713,99781,107748,15257],"class_list":["post-262307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-divine","tag-john-waters","tag-polyester","tag-the-great-performances"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}