Reflections on The Rocky Horror Picture Show

 

Dr. Frank N Furter ©2021

Original Art by Carolina Dean 

Note: This article is a part of my ongoing series of content in celebration of Pride Month. Pride Month is celebrated each year during the month of June in honor of those who fought for LGBTQ+ rights beginning with the Stonewall Riots in 1969. 

Synopsis - The Rocky Horror Picture Show 

Newly engaged straight-edge couple, Brad and Janet, accept dubious hospitality from Dr. Frank N Furter during the annual Transylvanian Convention. 

Commentary 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) was a groundbreaking movie that came on the heels of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Although it originally failed at the box office, midnight screenings  and enthusiastic movie goers helped turn RHPS give it a cult classic that included audience participation (complete with original lines and props) and what we call cosplaying today. 

I did not see RHPS until the early 90's when I was in in my late teens. It aired on VH-1 at midnight around Halloween. As a young gay man growing up in the deep south, RHPS had a profound impact on me for two reasons. 

First of all, representation. I honestly think that everyone can find someone like them within this movie.  It has everything- gay, straight, black, white, top, bottom, bisexuals, men, women, old, young, skinny, and plump! I think that it is very important for young gay people to be able to see themselves reflected in the stories that we tell on film and in books. It shows them that the are not alone and it provides them with role-models that they can pattern themselves afterward as they figure out who they really are. 

Secondly, I think the theme of this movie can be summed up in the statement from the lyrics to the song by the same title:  "Don't Dream It, Be It." What this means to me as a gay man is to not allow myself to sit on the sidelines of some straight girls life being a friend of - as they say on the Real Housewives- or an accessory to them, but rather to dream of a bigger and better life for myself where I am the star in the story of my own life! And not only that but to also give yourself the permission to be who you are and not what society, the media, family, or even well-meaning friends think that we should be. 

Since first seeing RHPS on a Halloween night over 30 years ago, it has become an annual tradition for me to watch it on Halloween night every year. 

- Carolina Dean