The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film directed by Jim Sharman and staring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick and Charles Gray. The story centres around of young, engaged couple who stumble across a castle were a mad scientist creates a monster named rocky and tries to seduce the couple revelling he and everyone there are aliens. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a film about the transitory nature of musical and how glam killed traditional rock paving the way for the more outlandish rock of the 70s as well as the start of rock music sub genres like metal and punk to do away for more traditional 60s rock highlighting that musical shift.
The film beginning with the song Science Fiction/Double Feature bout the pop culture of the time being replaced with another type of pop culture as shown through the iconic lips at the begging of the film witch links to the films main theme being the transitory nature of music. The film then property begins at a friend’s wedding were a young couple Brad and Janet declaring their love for each other. The style of the song represents the innocent nature of 60s music and subsequently their lives throughout the flower power hippy era. As Brad and Janet are drives the news on the radio reflects their times and the evolution of culture with the song there’s a light reflecting the lost generation and how evolution must occur for it to happen. The next song Time warp is ultimately a film about the fleeting nature of the 60s as they guide it to the 70s celebrating the evolution of rock, this is then followed by Dr Frank-N-Furters sweet transvestite song which is also about the evolutionary nature of rock but also of society with changing societal attitudes admits the sexual revolution changeling convectional norms as transsexualism was a boundary pushing thing in its era.
This idea of the sexual revolution is further captured as Brad and Janet being stripped naked and Dr Frank-N-Furter being shown as ether gay or bisexual, Dr Frank-N-Furter then brings to life his creation like Frankenstein called Rocky. Rocky is a metaphor for 70s glam rock that must be created to kill 60s rock and brings about the evolution of music, as well as this there is a metaphoric evolution more societal norms with Frankfurt’s sexuality with Rocky. Rocky’s song Sword of Damocles is a song that dives existentialism with him not understanding life and some people not liking the new evolution of rock as well as showcasing the new culture of the times with a more open policy to homosexuality, with is further shown with the song give me a strong man bout the gay scene during the sexual revolution. A Biker then crashes starting the song I Fell in Love with Rock and Roll which is another song about the evolution of rock however Rocky kills him at the end of the song to people’s horror as he must be the one to control rock, this evolution is also shown with the two main characters as Janet enjoys the evolution of rock, but Brad doesn’t. Later, Dr Frank-N-Furter goes to both their rooms and has sex with them witch links into the themes of society’s sexual revolution for the character of Janet, as well as this with Dr Frank-N-Furter having sex with Brad, this homosexual act showcases again the sexual revolution and this idea of challenging societal norms.
The song Touch Me is about Janet’s own personal sexual revolution as she likes rocky and wants to have sex with him, this idea of the transitory nature of music is also shown with Dr Frank-N-Furter’s punk get up. The song Eddie explains the backstory of Eddie, he hated his mother who was violent and ran away and is also in pain and wants to die, this person Eddie died, and they made dinner from his remains of his corpse the remains of which are inside the table. Dr Frank-N-Furter is an evil manipulative person who has a sadness to him as everyone hates him and in retaliation, he turns everyone to stone both physically and metaphorically, the next sign Rose Tint My World everyone is dressed up in cabaret shown as the evolution of Brad and Janet’s friendship with Dr Frank-N-Furter witch reflects the evolutionary nature of rock. In the song Don’t Dream It, Be It Dr Frank-N-Furter sings about his transvestism as his evolution reflects the sexual revolution and a challenge of sexual norms as shown with the orgy scene in the swimming pool, the song Wild and Untamed Thing further showcases their and society’s evolution into a more extreme nature of rock. At the climax of the film the characters Riff Raff and Magenta interrupt and announce that due to them being fed up with Dr Frank-N-Furter’s extravagance they are declaring mutiny and returning to their home planet of Transexual, Transyavina, this further links into the themes of the film being the evolution of rock showing that no one person should control its evolution. Dr Frank-N-Furter pleads to stay with the film “I’m Going Home” but they kill him along with Columbia as Rocky commits suicide showcasing that rock must die to be reborn.
The caste then lifts off into space as Brad, Janet, and Dr. Scott are left crawling in the mog and the dirst as the criminologist narrator throughout the film concludes that humans is the equivalent to insects crawling on the planets services his final worlds being “lost in time and lost in space… and meaning.”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a film about the evolutionary transitory nature of music and society. It shows that people must embrace the death of music and society so that it can be born anew better than what came before.
