Because I am feeling a little whimsical or maybe I'm just felling sassy, I have chosen to review Rocky Horror Picture Show as it relates to a film's narrative and storytelling.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Writers: Richard
O'Brien, Jim Sharman
Director: Jim
Sharman
Release Date: Sept
29, 1975
Cast:
Tim Curry Doctor Frank N. Furter
Susan Sarandon Janet Weiss
Barry Bostwick Brad Majors
Richard O'Brien Riff Raff (the Butler and Magenta's brother)
Jonathan Adams Dr. Everett V. Scott
Nell Campbell Columbia
Peter Hinwood Rocky Horror (the creature)
Patricia Quinn Magenta (the maid & Riff Raff's sister)
Meat Loaf Eddie (Columbia's boyfriend and Dr. Scott's nephew)
Charles Gray The Criminologist
Storyline:
This is the story of innocence lost through other world
encounters with humanoid aliens. A
young and naive, newly-engaged couple seek to travel to through Ohio to share
their news with an old college professor.
Along the way they meet with an unfortunate event causing them to seek
shelter in an eerie mansion during a rainstorm.
After being introduced to the host, Frank N. Furter, the couple
encounters a web of murder, sexual exploitation and awakenings, and government
cover-up of aliens on Earth. On the part of the aliens their story is
intertwined with Brad and Janet as they attempt to restore order on Earth and
return to their home planet of Transsexual Transylvania. This movies plays homage to the classic
RKO and 1950’s horror films as the audience participates in the adventures and
misadventures of Janet Weiss and Brad Majors.
Plot:
Newly engaged couple Janet Weiss and Brad Majors travel
through Ohio on a dark and rainy night.
After they are stranded with a flat tire, they are forced to seek refuge
in a dark and scary mansion where their host Dr. Frank N. Furter is hosting an
unusual party. In the midst of the party
the guests are introduced to Frank N. Furter’s creation, “Rocky”, that leads to
the murder of Eddie. Eddie is the
boyfriend of one of Frank’s maids and the nephew of Dr. Scott an adversary of
Frank’s and the person that Brad and Janet were traveling to meet.
Although Rocky is created to be a ‘plaything’ for Frank, he
rejects Frank’s advances forcing Frank to turn in attention to both Janet and Brad
which leaves their innocence in ruins.
Dr. Everett Scott arrives looking for his nephew, Eddie, and
the guests discover that Frank is actually an alien (a transvestite from the
planet Transsexual in the galaxy Transylvania) and that his loyal butler and
maid are fellow aliens.
When Frank N. Furter announces that he is returning to the
galaxy Transylvania, Riff Raff the butler and his sister, Magenta the maid,
declare that they have plans of their own.
This includes returning to their home planet without Frank N. Furter.
The story is presented with the flamboyance of a rock opera
while acknowledging the early popularity of both classical and B-rated sci-fi
and horror movies.
Chronology:
The events in the story appear in chronological sequence
until the very last scene when the narrator (The Criminologist) reveals that he
is relaying the events in flashback from the police reports given by Janet,
Brad, Dr. Scott, and other witnesses. This
allows the audience to not only follow the storyline but to also participate in
the events as the happen. As a cult
classic, this is an audience participation movie. Had the story followed a nonlinear
progression, the events would have lost their meaning as each event leads to the
conclusion that Frank N. Furter was to obsessed with sex and too unstable
(mentally) to return to his home planet.
As with any satire or
mystery, foreshadowing plays an important role in this story. The insinuated lines with visual props and
hints of upcoming events lead the viewer through the odyssey that is Frank N.
Furter’s obsessed mind, a mind obsessed with all forms of sexual
orientation. .
References:
Lips image. (n.d.) Retrieved from www.drafthouse.com/movies/the_rocky_horror_picture_show/Austin
Wikipedia. (2014) The
Rocky Horror Picture Show. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show
