November 1, 2001

Rocky Horror: The next generation

By Erin Harde
eharde@uwo.ca

"I was right there a hundred years ago watching it at the Roxy cinema in Toronto when I was an undergraduate. We use to perform songs and do these spontaneous bursts from Rocky Horror while getting drunk and stupid at the campus pub," says film professor Angela Stukator. She recalls that in the '70s, everyone knew the lines and the songs in the movie. Unfortunately for Stukator and other Rocky fans, the film is not showing in London this year due to problems with distribution.

Photo by Erin Harde

Young fans prep for the Time Warp.

While the film is still popular, finding adolescents who know the story, let alone all the lines and songs is not as common. The film's plot tracks a conservative couple, Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), who find themselves at a curious convention in Dr. Frank N Furter's castle. Furter, played by Tim Curry, is about to introduce his latest creation, a blond man named Rocky whose sole purpose is to relieve Furter's "tension," as he puts it. Musician Meatloaf also has a part in the movie as a rock 'n' roll rebel. The story unravels into a furor of orgies, incest, violence and cannibalism among other taboo subjects. Stukator says these elements are necessary for a film to develop a cult following.

"Cult films tend to be for a white, middle class, heterosexual adolescent rebellious group," Stukator explains. She acknowledges that the heavy homosexual overtones in the film would suggest otherwise, but believes the cult flick allows for an outlet. "The age from 16 to 20 is when suddenly you realize you have choices and there are rules, but the rules can be broken. That's what the Rocky Horror Picture Show is all about; it allows for transgression of those boundaries." Now in Rocky's 26th year, the midnight screenings that occur every Halloween are being attended by the children of the original Rocky fans. Stukator says that as long as there are adolescents, there will be enough fans to keep the movie in cult status.

"I think the timelessness is less about standing in for real life experience than it is an acting out of issues that belong to coming-of-age. Issues of experimentation with life, drugs, sex, music do not belong to one generation," says Stukator of the infinite quality of the film. She thinks the film became popular because of its focus on issues that became prevalent post 1960s like "the generation of liberation, civil rights, sexual liberation made possible by the birth control pill, rock 'n' roll music, gay and lesbian sexuality, and drug culture."

Although these issues are now less controversial, they are still important to the teenagers and twentysomethings of modern society. Stukator reasons that because Rocky Horror has all of these elements, the film will be popular with generations of young people to come.

One member of the second Rocky generation remembers his mother's stories about his uncle donning the costume and dancing the Time Warp at the annual screening. Jason Krauskopf knows the tradition hasn't been forgotten.

"Nowadays you bring the rice and bread; there are certain points in the movie where you do certain actions or yell certain things and everyone dresses up."

Krauskopf is referring to the fans who not only come in costume, but with grocery bags loaded with props and scripts. By the end of a traditional midnight screening, the audience has left its considerable mark on the theatre. Krauskopf, a member of the Western Film Society, first saw the film when he was 14 and "immediately took to it because it was fun and had a great cast." But he recognizes, as many Rocky fans do, that the plot is weak.

"It was a bomb to begin with; it did poorly in the box office and it wasn't until years later that the film became a sub-culture phenomenon." Krauskopf, like Stukator, attributes this in part to the music. "The goths really picked up on it, and the rock 'n' rollers."

Although Stukator and Krauskopf both admit that they have never dressed up for the screenings, they still have their favourite characters. "Barry Bostwick is a treat to watch on Spin City and is so much fun to watch looking back to Rocky Horror,"says Krauskopf about the actor who now stars in a popular sitcom. And for Stukator? It's the mad scientist himself. "I remember when I was younger, Tim Curry was like a god."