The Rocky Horror Picture Show: a search for identity through a camp movie
«Don't get strung out by the way I look! Don't judge a book by it's cover / I'm not much of a man by the light of the day / But at night I'm one hell of a lover» These words sung by Tim Curry in «Sweet Transvestite» perfectly summarizes the central topics of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This 1975 movie, which mixes horror, SF and musicals, is now seen as a cult movie. Today still, some theatres project the movie where the audience come dress up as the characters for singing along with them. It allows us to talk about this film as a camp movie. We can link the idea of camp to artifice, stylisation and exaggeration. These three words can also describe The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Rocky Horror Picture Show changed something in cinema but also in society. This movie represents a sexual revolution. The main character is a transsexual, alien nymphomaniac who kills his former lovers. It's not only a B movie which wants to make fun of Hollywood cliché. It's also a strong political discourse about sexuality and the way it's represented in the media. In fact, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a satire of cinema and American society in the 70s.
We can talk of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as a camp movie. Indeed camp can be linked to artifice and stylisation but also to the highlighting of unusual figures here. First, the movie comes from the idea of artifice with stereotyped characters. Brad and Janet as the white middle-class couple for example. The characters are presented as stereotypes of the movie genre they're representing: Janet and Brad represent the musical, Riff Raff and Magenta represent horror and Frank-N-Furter and Rocky represent science fiction... But what's the most interesting in this movie is the performance of unusual characters, which can be seen as an illustration of camp. Indeed, we have a lot of unexpected characters. Frank is a transsexual alien, Riff Raff appears as the hunchbacked sidekick. Even Brad, doesn't entirely match the norm of masculinity. He appears as a nerdy, clumsy guy; other characters laugh at him when he's in his underwear because he appears «common». The Rocky Horror Picture Show really focuses on uncommon bodies, which are usually seen as imperfect but here they are exalting. This movie is celebrating what is usually seen as weird and unconventional. Also, the mix of genres such as horror, science fiction and musical take part in the construction of a camp movie. The directors mixed these three styles to create a sensational story about a transsexual alien who succeeds in creating the perfect lover. The musical gives a kind of «kitsch» aesthetic to the movie. Everyone is always singing and dancing even when the action is kind of dramatic. This frivolity is counterbalanced by the horror style. We can talk about the scene where Frank kills Eddie. Just before the murder, Eddie is doing a rock'n'roll show but Frank can't handle his presence so he becomes violent. We have then a high-speed car chase, strengthened by shots-reverse-shots on Eddie's face, Frank's face and Columbia's face. Then Frank is filmed in a low angle-shot to represent his power and madness. In this moment we're in a horror movie. Finally, the science fiction genre is always in the background of the movie. The residents come from «Transsexual Transylvania» and at the end the house takes off to go back to Transylvania with poor special effects. The Rocky Horror Picture Show can really be seen as a turning point in cinema. Even if it's labelled as a B movie, it was a very daring project, not only in terms of movie genre but also in the society's representations.
In fact, The Rocky Horror Picture Show takes a social turn by representing a lot of sexualities; which is revolutionary for the 70s. The movie wasn't scared to break the norms. For example, the presentation of Brad and Janet as a perfect hetero couple is just an outward appearance because later on in the movie both of them will sleep with Frank-N-Furter. With the same pattern, Frank goes to Janet's bedroom then to Brad's bedroom. He sneaks in, starts to arouse them by pretending to be Brad or Janet, they realize it, try to resist but in the end their sexual desire appears to be stronger and they sleep with Frank. Within five minutes, we have examples of heterosexual and homosexual relationships; which also means a subtext of bisexuality for Frank-N-Furter. Even today, bisexuality isn't often represented, so it really appears as a revolution in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In the movie we're also confronted with the idea of voyeurism. Indeed, when Frank and Brad are sleeping together, we can see them on a TV screen, just like Janet who saw everything. And, a few moments later when Janet is having sex with Rocky she's also watched by Magenta and Columbia. And at the same time, we have a subtext of masturbation because we have shots-reverse-shots of Janet and Rocky having sex and of Magenta and Columbia watching them, singing, playing with a hairdryer. Nothing is clearly shown, but the subtext is really there. Finally, we have an evolution of Janet which places the women at the center of sexual pleasure. Indeed, the scene where she has sex with Rocky is only about her. We have a lot of close-ups on her face clearly showing pleasure, plus the song at the moment is «Touch-A, Touch-A, Touch Me»; I mean it would be hard to deny what this whole moment is about. She's also the one taking things in hand, leading Rocky. She's now the center of attention, putting her desire first forgetting what society considers correct or not by having sex before getting married and not with the man she's supposed to marry. So, The Rocky Horror Picture Show shows taboo themes for the time, mostly linked to sexuality. It clearly breaks the norms of the time, saying that everything is possible and that's okay. And all of that is only possible precisely because we are in a camp B movie. Here, the genre serves the idea.
Finally, The Rocky Horror Picture Show represents a search for identity. First of all, most of the characters have duality in them. What's funny is that Brad and Janet best highlight this. They're constantly torn between norms and transgression. At first, we are presented to them as the perfect heterosexual white couple but throughout the movie they're the two characters who question the most their identities. They both slept with Frank; Janet also sleeps with Rocky. They're discovering themselves and each other at the same time as they're discovering the house. What can appear surprising is that Frank-N-Furter is also full of duality. Even if at first he appears really sure of himself, he isn't. He's divided between his eccentricity and his fear of loneliness. Indeed, if Frank is always changing lover it's because he's afraid people will fall out of love with him. The creation of Rocky - as the perfect lover, muscular and not thinking much – is a way for Frank to assure himself he will always be loved. That's why he goes insane when he learns that Rocky and Janet slept together. His desire to have control and power over everyone is lead by his fear of loneliness. The fact that he can't even control Rocky breaks him. The frivolity of Frank highlights duality, but also the journey to the acceptance of oneself.
The fact that the characters are tirelessly searching for their real self is a means to promote acceptance in modern society. At the end, with the «Rose Tint My World» scene, the characters come to terms with their duality. In the song, each character does the inventory of his life, highlighting the ambiguity of their emotions toward Frank and themselves. The camera follows the choreographies of each character, alternating close-ups, medium shots and low-angle shots. Then Frank appears in the middle with triumphant music in the background. He tells his own story, «Don't dream it. Be it.». Frank is the figure of acceptance. In this scene, everybody is dressed the same way as Frank. We can see this as an illustration of Frank's narcissism but also as an illustration that they can be what they want, no matter the norms around them. Arrives the pool scene where we have again strong sexual representation but against a backdrop of acceptance, forgiveness and fulfilment. But, at the same time Riff Raff and Magenta interrupt the moment to announce that Frank has failed his mission and that he can't stay on earth. This can be seen as an intervention of social norms against the movement of acceptance because the justification of Frank's murder is that «society must be protected». Riff Raff and Magenta become a metaphor for a social norm, which wants to destroy the root cause of a possible revolution.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an emblematic movie, which deals with sexual emancipation and, on a larger scale, with a search for identity. By putting unconventional characters in the spotlight and by corrupting «classical» characters, the movie decides to support a new vision of modern society. The camp characteristics of the movie help it to interrogate the actual definition of gender, sex and what is socially acceptable or not. Taking the form of a «B movie» only allows the directors to create a movie which can openly criticize social and political norms and support a revolution in representation and sexual definition. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is also a tribute to the acceptance of oneself. By showing the multiplicity within the characters, the movie highlights how people don't have only one side or one identity. To accept this duality is to embrace our true selves, which leads to accepting each other. Even if the movie ends on Frank's death that is to say the win of social norms, Brad and Janet survive. They're no longer the same as they were at the beginning of the movie. They wear the imprint of Frank's liberty. The Rocky Horror Picture Show certainly show the difficulty and the failure of a revolution and search for identity but it's ending highlights the fact that it's still possible.
Lola Puel.




















