Desperate Living

A Screenplay

By: John Waters

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Paperback | 28 October 2025

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Paperback
96 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
19.4 x 13.0 x 1.1

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A grotesque and hilarious satire about the American dream, suburban living, and the corrupting influence of power, set in a world that could only have sprung from the unhinged and brilliant mind of John Waters.

On the verge of a suburban mental health crisis, frazzled and wildly unstable housewife Peggy (immortalized by Mink Stole on-screen) runs away from home with her maid and partner in crime, Grizelda (played with spectacular gumption by the sizzling Jean Hill), only to end up in Mortville, a shantytown filled with society's rejects. Mortville is run by the evil Queen Carlotta, who parades through the cardboard streets taunting and terrorizing her subjects.

John Waters's wild and visionary fable lampoons everything from the staid conservatism of the American dream to race and class relations. The New York Times ranked Desperate Living at "the highest peak atop [John Waters]'s trash heap of a filmography." High praise indeed!

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