Don't dream it, be it!
Rocky is the story of a loving couple, a few lost monsters and a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania, who sing and dance through a campy salute to horror movies and sexual liberation.
From almost the moment a movie-musical megaflop called The Rocky Horror Picture Show played theaters, briefly, in 1975 - and then segued into a $150-million midnight-movie institution fans have been dancing to a step called the time warp, singing along to the sound track, and throwing toast at the screen. More than a movie, this strange jumble of monster-flick composition and campy sexual kitschy-koo became, quite inadvertently, an audience-participation extravaganza.
Fans who showed up time and again at artsy outposts like the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village began to sing along to the score. Soon they started tossing witty comebacks to the dialogue. Then they began throwing rice during the wedding scene. And then, of course, when somebody in the movie proposed a toast . . they threw toast.
Then came the costumes. Then came dance-along performers. It all became so wild as to make RuPaul look straight. Though none of this would seem quite so much fun at home, Rocky was a hit when it came to video in 1990.
But what is so intriguing about Rocky? Maybe it's the transformation of Brad and Janet. Maybe it's the fall of Frank, or maybe it's that weird bond Magenta and Riff Raff share (that is one tight-knit family.) Or, maybe it's the heartwarming lesson in the end (oh, wait, is there one?) Maybe it was something about human nature, or safe sex, or how too much makeup can clog pores. No, wait, it was something to the effect of, high heels and fishnets can make almost anyone's legs look great. Yes, that must have been it.
The story of Rocky is loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (hence, Frank-n-Furter). Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon), a couple of innocent kids, leave the small town of Denton to visit Brad's old professor Dr. Scott. En route, Brad pops a tire (just one of the many reasons for his loving nickname, asshole), so, Brad and Janet seek shelter in the nearby castle, searching for a telephone.
In this castle, Brad and Janet interrupt the celebration of the Translyvanians. What are they celebrating, you ask? Ok, apparently someone wasn't paying attention, if you have to, take notes! It's the creation of Rocky! Dr. Frank has found the source of creation (which looks a bit like food coloring to me, but we won't go down that road), and has made the perfect man (or so he thinks!) and throws a party for himself.
Brad and Janet are soon stripped of their dignity (and their clothes!) and head up to the lab, quickly abandoning their quest for a telephone. Frank has his triumphant success with the creation of his new friend, Rocky, interrupted by Eddie (Meat Loaf), Frank's former friend. Eddie's pissed at Frank for stealing half his brain to give to Rocky, so, Frank kills him to protect Rocky. Dinner, anyone?
So, why do millions of people all over the world obsess over this movie? Why has the fanclub president seen the movie over two thousand times? Who started this whole thing? Damnit! I want answers!
Who better to ask, than Rocky's true creator, Richard O'Brien?
RS: Rocky Horror has become a cult legend, but you've done other things. Is it ever upsetting having your work overshadowed by Rocky?
RO: Well, when you do something like Rocky, which is indefinable somehow, it always becomes difficult to lose that. Not that I have any interest in saying goodbye to Rocky. I absolutely adore being involved and a part of something that is really a phenomenon.
With the film around for 25 years and the show being around even longer- still running and continuing to fill theater houses all around the word- it's really an exciting and wonderful thing to be part of that. And I have no problems with that at all.
If it all overshadows anything else, I can understand completely why and again it doesn't worry me.
RS: I think what struck me were two stories written about you- both regarding an analysis of Rocky Horror. One was describing Rocky Horror as a great sci-fi spoof, while the other was talking about this as a ground breaking film that was channeling human sexuality and relationships that makes one question oneself. One story seemed like you were just happy and poppy and the other described you as the philosopher of the `70s. What's your take on that?
RO: What I think happened there was: yes, I set out to write amusing entertainment, so I think what I did was touch buttons that were deeper rooted. I think Mr. Carl Jung might have had something to say about Rocky and get into the scenario of that, and pull it apart, and deconstruct it and look at the symbolism and look at the psychological motives that were within the piece.
Of course, none of that was intended. So I think what happened was that my subconscious wrote a starchy show and I invested in it so that it's also other peoples' (collective) subconscious. I locked into the kind of bigger consciousness somehow and touched areas that people have thought about and kept hidden and hadn't really expressed. Rocky somehow or other releases that. But any good fairy tale of sorts of does that, truthfully.
RS: A lot of psychologists talk about how the fairy tales and psychology are intertwined.
RO: Well, there's no reason that fairy tales have been around for so long unless they're invested with something that we can't see. Because if you look at the narratives of many of them and the simple story of many of them, you go and find out what we have learned from the journey. And yet we want to hear the story again.
And, in fact, in England we have a very strong tradition in the theater called pantomime, which you in America you're not aware of really. But every Christmastime they do a pantomime, which is generally based on one of those fairy tales. Very weirdly- and this is traditionally English- the person who plays Mother Goose is always a man in drag. The mother of Aladdin, for instance, is always played by a man. The prince is generally played by a woman. She's always dressed in some 18th century jerkin and a pair of fish net tights. It's a bit like those medieval mystery plays. I think what you are doing is pricing up a story that is in the public consciousness since day one. But these stories are so deeply woven into our backgrounds that they are satisfying.
RS: So I guess Rocky would be a modern-day fable really?
RO: It's kind of, it's almost a pantomime. It is a modern day kind of fable. It's babes in the woods really. Hansel and Gretel.
RS: But I thought Hansel and Gretel's point was not to talk to strangers.
RO: No, Hansel and Gretel's point is that they live with their father who is a weak man and their stepmother who wants to get rid of them because they can't afford to keep them and they get dumped in the forest. And again it's about rites of passage isn't it. Their journey begins when they're thrown out of the family home. They have the skill of Hansel, who leaves the pebbles behind the first time and then he leaves the bread behind and the birds eat it. And then they're locked up and they go to the gingerbread house and then they meet the Wicked Witch, Brad and Janet meet Frankenfurter. And Janet saves Brad, and Gretel saves Hansel by pushing the witch into the fire. It's a similar kind of journey.
But that original journey is as going back to genesis. And we have Hansel and Gretel as Adam and Eve and the Wicked Witch as the serpent. It's a rite of passage. It's growing up, leaving home and going back and saying I'm on my own two feet now dad and you f---ed us up and pushed us out into the woods, and we're back here. And at the end of that story, he says the wife's gone and they give them some of the riches and wealth. The generosity of spirit for looking after the old parent. It's a very smaller kind of journey.
RS: Did you have any of that in mind when you were writing it?
RO: No, no, no.
RS: So does this explain Rocky's success in hindsight?
RO: I think perhaps because I didn't know what I was doing explains some of the success. I've seen and met so many people who want to write and what not to do this kind of manipulative work.
Ahead of time, (they'll say) "Oh they're going to love this."
Who are they?
No, do you like it? Does it work for you?
It's not about them. I think whatever came out of Rocky was because of it's expression of freedom, it's adolescent kind of drive gave its edge really and the longevity in the end of the day.
RS: Most people, when they write a story say they're similar to certain characters in certain aspects. What characters were you similar to?
RO: All of them, actually. Each and every one of those characters is a little bit of me. That's what I would think.
RS: At times, I kept thinking, "I would never imagine running into people like this in a million years." Like Tim Curry's character, Dr. Frankenfurter.
RO: Well, we've all met the flamboyant manipulative charismatic person that is amoral at the end of the day and is quite prepared to use their charm to get whatever they want. History is full of these people.
They're very appealing. Especially the charming charismatic villain is always an appealing character. You can't deny that. There's something very sexy with somebody who's got that dangerous edge to them. At the same time, they're very charming and charismatic. It's a wonderful, wonderful role.
RS: Anything else you would like to say?
RO: I think South Park is puerile. I hate the animation. I think the animation is such an abominable and tawdry, that it drives me to distraction, because I love good quality animation. And when you've got something as well written as the Simpsons happening and it's been happening for 15 years and the writing sublime and satirical. You know, along comes South Park and it's such an easy, cheap joke like Dumb and Dumber and Beavis and Butthead it's all just bloody. All you're doing is writing for fucking 14-years-olds. What's the point?
RS: What does that have to do with Rocky?
RO: Absolutely nothing.
RS: Right...
Well, that got us nowhere. Still desperate for answers, I searched all over the Internet for the answer, What is so intriguing about Rocky?
I was amazed to find devout Rocky fanatics who had spent many apparently invaluable hours creating websites to feed their addictions. They had message boards, traded costume tips, bragged about the number of times they had seen the movie, and laughed about the mistakes made in the editing process. This really wasn't helping, and I was starting to feel my pulse in my eyelids (seriously). Nowhere on any of these sites did people explain their fascination with Rocky.
When I found a site dedicated to one couple's Rocky themed wedding, I knew humanity had hit an all time low. They had posted pictures of the reception, and photos from the honeymoon, spent in the castle the movie was filmed in (now a hotel), and even a copy of the Best Man's speech. He retold the plot of the movie, substituting Janet and Brad for Sharlene and Dave. Old men in drag, bletch!
Finally, I found an essay a fan had written (actually, about twelve essays) about why the love Rocky so much. It was something about the music, and how the movie helped them feel accepted in a group, or something like that.
They concluded that really, what they liked the best, out of the whole movie, was the sex! Somehow, this didn't surprise me.
Time Warp
It's astounding; Time is fleeting; Madness takes it's toll.
But listen closely...
Not for very much longer.
I've got to keep control.
I remember doing the time-warp.
Drinking those moments when The darkness would hit me
And a void would be calling...
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
It's just a jump to the left.
And then a step to the right.
With you're hands on you hips.
You bring your knees in tight.
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
It's so dreamy, oh fantasy free me.
So you can't see me,
no, not at all.
In another dimension,
with voyeuristic intention,
Well secluded, I see all.
With a bit of a mind flip
You're into the time slip.
And nothing can ever be the same
You're spaced out on sensation.
Like you're under sedation.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Well I was walking down the street
just having a think
When this snake of a guy
gave me an evil wink.
He shook me up,
he took me by surprise
He had a pickup truck,
and the devil's eyes.
He stared at me
and I felt a change.
Time meant nothing,
never would again.
It's just a jump to the left.
And then a step to the right.
With you're hands on you hips.
You bring your knees in tight.
But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane.
Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again.
