The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a musical created by Richard O’brien that was adapted for film in 1975, is considered a cult film and is accompanied by a band that has become, by itself, one more classic. visibility for actors Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been a special film since its inception. It ranges from comics to science fiction, parodying second-rate movies and old horror movies. Its classification ranges from mystery to terror, but with that cult, surreal and comic air that transforms the musical into a very particular style link.
- It was not a film that was very popular in its beginnings.
- But over time it became a myth that endures to this day.
- It is a production that should not be taken too seriously.
- Because it subjects us to a carnival and an atypical atmosphere.
- You may or may not like it.
- But no one is indifferent.
Eye-catching red lips sing the song the film releases. An almost hypnotic introduction that catches everyone’s attention, as it resembles the old amateur horror movies. This opening envelops us in what is to come.
The story features a criminologist narrator, the same one who warns us that we are going to witness something appalling and totally out of the ordinary, introduces us to a young promised couple, Brad and Janet, these two characters are a clear example of how well-seen and socially accepted and desired at the time. All this taken to the extreme, because we are in a film where the normal shines by its absence.
The young couple has already promised not to have sex before the wedding day. Brad proposes to Janet with other friends. We see these two characters quite ridiculed, declaring themselves in a very cheesy way, which translates into a comic and non-romantic scene, both decided to visit a former confessor, Dr. Everret Scott, to tell him the happy news.
On their way they end up encountering a strong storm and are forced to interrupt the path, lost in the middle of a road, see a light in the distance and breathe relieved at the opportunity to ask for help, but this was not the case. exactly the reality: fate takes them to a strange and sinister castle full of inhabitants more than individuals.
Here we will meet Magenta and Riff Raff, two servants of the castle, Columbia and Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a strange scientific transvestite. Frank-N-Furter, a clear allusion to Frankenstein, invites newcomers to his big party. He had arrived on a very special day because the scientist would present his new creation to the world: Rocky, a young redhead and muscular.
Brad and Janet are desperately trying to understand the situation, as they find themselves immersed in a kind of party where everyone is strangers from the transsexual planet in the Transylvania galaxy, everything is very normal.
Sex has long been a taboo subject. This is still the case in some media, but sex is something innate and natural, something that goes far beyond any necessary taboo, repression and sexual liberation play a key role in the film, as does the acceptance of homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality.
All this is shown from the beginning, in a world as the other way around, where most are not heterosexual, Brad and Janet, socially accepted in their world, are outsiders in the castle, that is, history transforms everything that was. Considered? Normal?strange and normalizes the different.
It is a contrast, a brutal confrontation between two worlds, two totally opposite extremes, it must be thought that the film dates back to 1975 and that, at the moment, it was something totally innovative, it was nothing like what has been done. seen so far, and still today seems rather strange. It was a musical that paved the way for film exploration of other realities and allowed the creation of other musicals. “Priscilla, queen of the desert? is one of them.
The normalization and liberation of sexuality has been delayed, it did not happen until the end of the twentieth century and much remains to be done about it, because there are still many prejudices, taboos and discriminations, against homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals. But was it always like this?
It is curious that today we are outraged by works such as “50 shades of Grey”, which are controversial and look like something new. In fact, even in the Middle Ages, we found stories whose reading was much more awkward and outrageous than Gray’s. In the same sense, and even more horrible, do we have the Marquis of Sade and his work, the 120 days of Sodom?eighteenth century. In it are very present torture, sex, coprophagia and everything that the human mind can imagine. All this explores Michel Focault in his work “History of Sexuality”, divided into three volumes, with great depth.
If sex is abolished, that is, prohibition, non-existence and mutism are intended; the mere fact of talking about sex and talking about their repression already gives an air of deliberate transgression. -Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality-
It can be said that there was some invisibility of the sexual issue in the first decade of the film. To address the theme of sexuality, The Rocky Horror Picture Show used parody, film and music. The musical didn’t even appear in every theater, and it wasn’t widely accepted given the controversy, yet over time it has become an important reference.
The popular appeal was such that some cinemas screened the film, and still did so in a very particular way, the audience participated and imitated some scenes of the characters, it became a tradition in which actors were hired and the audience also interacted with the audience. movie itself.
It should be noted that this tradition continues today, that this film is still alive and continues to be screened in some cinemas around the world, these evenings of interaction are always organized, people simply seem to look but throw rice into the cinema when there is a wedding scene. Or the audience covers their heads with a newspaper when Brad and Janet do it to protect themselves from the rain. There are fan clubs for the film, which has been broadcast from generation to generation.
What’s spectacular is that none of this has happened through media advertising, but word of mouth, the same people who have started interacting, dancing and about playing screen screenings aloud.
The impact of was so great that in 2016 a television adaptation was made, the novelty was the inclusion of a transsexual actress, Laverne Cox, in the role of Frank-N-Furter, in addition to also presenting the intervention of Tim Curry. , the Frank-N-Furter 1975. In addition, the Glee series had an episode in which the film was honored. We could continue citing a multitude of tributes and references to this particular work.
it is a musical that never goes out of style, that remains in force, that anticipated a revolution and sexual liberation whose essence continues to endure to this day. It is one of those films that, every time we see it, we can see something new that He had created a new way to go to the cinema and watch a movie, his band left its mark and paved the way for a whole series of musical films that continued in the same direction. Without a doubt, this is a film that we must see at least once in our lives.
“Are humans just insects crawling across the planet’s surface?-Criminologist, The Rocky Horror Picture Show-