Happy Thursday, all! Thursday means book review day!
But today I'm doing things a bit differently.
In honour of Halloween, just around the corner, I'm actually writing, today, about a movie.
Well, a movie and a play.
I have an ulterior motive as well. We have a brand spankin' new theatre group in our community, and their first big performance is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, coming up November 2 and 3. They're prolonging the Halloween festivities just a bit, which I love.
For those of you who don't know, Rocky Horror Picture Show is a "musical science-fiction horror-comedy film" (according to Wikipedia), released in 1975, that has become the ultimate cult classic film.
The movie was based on the play, and the entire film is one big parody of science fiction "B" films. It follows a young, newly-engaged couple. They have car trouble, visit a castle to ask for a phone, where they meet the crazy inhabitants, including the mad scientist "sweet transvestite" alien, Dr. Frank N. Furter. Craziness ensues, largely of a sexual nature. Innocence is lost, an attractive muscleman is built, not to mention some incest, cannibalism, murder, singing and dancing, awesome costuming, and so on. It is risque in the extreme, and also ground-breaking, ahead of its time.
In fact, it's become a cultural phenomenon.
The audience participation takes this strange movie to the next level. There is a sense of belonging, playing with the ridiculousness that is this film.
And, it's just plain fun.
So, why am I writing about it today, other than to attempt to convince locals to come out to the upcoming performance, or to celebrate Halloween?
Because of the very nature of the questionable, the avant-garde, the boundary-pushing.
I don't write "questionable" things, really.
But there is something about pushing boundaries in art and literature that is, well, the reason it exists. It exists to make you wonder, question, consider. To celebrate. To make you uncomfortable.
Rocky Horror makes some people uncomfortable. For others, it is celebratory.
For me, it's just plain fun. The first time I went to a showing, I was in university. My friend, who became my husband eventually, took me.
I had ever experienced anything like that. A whole audience of people all part of something. The words, the outfits, the whole nature of the event. And after the initial "What the hell am I watching?!" reaction wore off, I was hooked.
It was a blast.
And I've loved it ever since.
So, if you live near me, and you want to come to a fun event with some truly talented local people, and you are an adult (or a mature almost-adult), then you should probably come check this out.
And if you don't, then maybe watch the movie, or find a local showing.
And if that also is not you, then acknowledge something else artistic, something else that makes you uncomfortable, something else to celebrate.
Meanwhile, I'll be over here, getting ready to do the Time Warp. Again.