No, of course Baltimore is not everywhere, but it is much bigger than it looks on the map: Baltimore is the epitome of narrow-mindedness, neglect, provinciality, prejudice and a lot of conceit, at least for John Waters, and he should know because he was born in Baltimore. In all of his films, he’s always asked the same question: You might get the people out of Baltimore, but do you get Baltimore out of the people?
Only one skin color was allowed on US television
In other words: is progress even possible? Do education, tolerance, joie de vivre get their chance? But like, at least in the musical fairy tale “Hairspray”, which Waters filmed in 1988 and which has been very successful in a stage version since 2002. A moral image of Baltimore in the early sixties, mind you, before the great social upheaval, when racism was not only commonplace but almost a matter of course, there were strictly separated white and black neighborhoods and only one skin color was allowed on the followingnoon TV show – that of Rich, blond and powerful.
