Earlier this year, A Minecraft Movie made a lot of noise because people are getting “too rowdy” during a scene where the audience sings along and throws popcorn at the screen. It makes me wonder what the whole purpose of the movie-going experience is supposed to be. As someone who grew up on Mystery Science Theater 3000, my friends and I would go to bad movies and make fun of them.
Hey, it’s better than going out drinking a 16, right? At least our parents never had to worry where we were at 10 p.m.
Eddie Murphy joked in his earlier comedy skits about black people from his neighborhood talking back to the screen. I remember when another friend and I went to go see American Pie, some woman screamed, “Run, motherfucker, run!” during a scene where two teens are engaged in oral sex and the father is walking up the stairs. Everyone laughed.
When I saw Saving Private Ryan, some old guy who apparently didn’t understand why Jeremy Davies’ character was so scared of combat yelled out, “It’s about damn time!” when he shot the Czech soldier who fatally shoots Tom Hanks’ character.
To be honest, I’m on the shelf myself. If I’m going to see a movie, it depends on the audience. I’ve been to a few R-rated movies that weren’t suitable for young children and I knew it’s because their parents did it. A Minecraft Movie is PG so you’re going to expect a lot of kids in the audience. It’s not like people the Seinfeld episode where he makes out with a women during a screening of Schindler’s List.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show wasn’t the first movie to have audience participation. Filmmaker William Castle would have gimmicks in the audience as people could vote on the punishment of a character or the seats would give light shocks to people at random. Then, a year before Rocky Horror‘s premiere during the summer of 1975, the huge disaster blockbuster Earthquake had Sensurround where the seats would move given the idea of shaking during certain scenes.
But Rocky Horror‘s audience participation happened almost by accident. The movie hadn’t been an instant success. It only made just over $1 million in its first year of release. Then at The Waverly Theatre in New York in 1976, Louis Farese Jr., a teacher known for his restrained behavior, screamed out during a scene early in the movie. When Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) is walking through the rain with just a newspaper over her head, Farese reportedly screamed “Buy an umbrella, you cheap bitch!”
And from that moment on, the movie itself became a filmgoing experience. People brought water guns to spray up in the air during the rain scene. They’d bring toast to throw around when Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) makes a toast during a dinner scene. They would dress up as their favorite character. And since Frank-N-Furter is a transvestite, men would dress in drag with the black lace and lingerie.
Whenever a musical number would happen, the audience would get up and sing and dance along with what’s on screen. With all due respect, Rocky Horror is a mediocre movie that runs out of steam in the final act, but like a sporting event, it’s a lot more fun seeing it on the big screen surrounded by moviegoers.
The plot is a variation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Janet and her fiance, Brad Majors (Bruce Bostwick), are on a road trip after celebrating their friends getting married when they have car trouble. As it’s raining outside, they decide to seek if there is a house where they can find help. It just happens to be Frank-N-Furter’s castle where they are greeted by his servants Riff Raff (Richard O’Brien), a hunchback, and his sister, Magenta (Patricia Quinn) where has the same hairstyle in the climax as the Bride of Frankenstein.
It just happens that Frank-N-Furter has been experimenting to build his own sexual partner creature, Rocky Horror (Peter Hinwood), a blonde man with a muscular physique body. At the same time, Frank-N-Furter also has his way with both Brad and Janet. Most of the sex scenes happen off screen or are implied. It’s still the 1970s and obscenities laws were being exercised everywhere by eager beaver law enforcement.
While looking at the movie now 50 years later, it’s easy to see it as an interpretation of gay men or transvestites as sexual predators. Now words used in the songs like “transvestite” and “transexual” are considered somewhat derogatory. I don’t it’s the intention of O’Brien who co-wrote the script with director Jim Sharman based on O’Brien’s play The Rocky Horror Show. I think it’s more to show how Brad and Janet are being controlled by “society norms.” They have a sexual awakening.
Curry, O’Brien and Quinn all appear earlier in the movie during the wedding scene. O’Brien and Quinn do a pose based on American Gothic by Grant Wood. The church scenes seem to be representative of Middle America and how everyone there is just “too square” and “basic.” The movie opened during the Sexual Revolution and its characters really don’t have any gender identity or sexual preference.
During the movie’s climax, everyone seems to be dressed in lace and lingerie. But even though it has a run time of 100 minutes with credits, it still feels too long. Part of the problem is the the abundance of songs and musical numbers slows the movie down in the last 30 mintes. The United Kingdom version has another musical number at the end.
I’m pretty sure seeing this on the stage or in a theater would be awesome. But watching it at home, it just seems to drag after Rocky Horror is created and Eddie (Meat Loaf) does his one scene before he is killed by Frank-N-Furter. But still it’s legacy is something to be admired as it’s made a reported $166 million and is the longest movie that has been in release as it plays at several midnight showings and conventions.
Curry has been recovering from a stroke since 2012 and is now using a wheelchair. But this is one of his most iconic roles and the one that put him on the map. This along with his role in the crime comedy Clue and as Pennywise the Clown in the IT miniseries have one of the most loved actors of modern times.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 