A Brief Observation
Irradiated by Stingray
It struck me today after a brief bit of conversation in #gunblogger_conspiracy, that the unaccountably popular Rocky Horror Picture Show is the entertainment equivalent of herpes.
*It’s awkward and uncomfortable when someone tells you about it.
*It’s unpleasant, but not generally fatal.
*Two persons both afflicted can safely go nuts with each other.
*It never goes completely away, and has periodic flare-ups.
*If you’re not already infected, you sure as hell don’t want to be.
*There does not appear to be any sort of cure.
The only real difference is that if I was in some bizarrely contrived situation with a choice between contracting herpes and being involved in that …whatever the hell it is, I’d be in the pharmacy after a bottle of valtrex the next day.
December 14th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
What, you mean you don’t want to dress like an idiot, parrot lines in sync with others, and generally act like a fool???
I vaguely remember watching about half of that movie when it originally came out in 1975 and we got up and left…
December 14th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Yeah, but Tim Curry’s demonstration of just how stratospheric an “over the top” performance can get has to count as one of filmdom’s more memorable displays.
Maybe the fact that I first saw the film in Munich – dubbed in german – has something to do with the impact the experience had on me. That, and the full load of Paulaner beforehand.
December 14th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Sorry, but I’d take the Sweet Transvestite over herpes lesions ANY day.
December 14th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Stingray, you need to get out more.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:02 am
I hate that movie.
(I’ve never seen it.)
December 15th, 2009 at 6:49 am
I have never successfully watched that entire movie. I totally don’t get the whole RHPS thing.
I mean, like basketball or Mormonism, I am aware of its existence and feel no particular antipathy towards those who are enthusiastic adherents, but I just do not grok it in its fullness.
December 15th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Let’s do the Time Warp againnnnnn!!!!!!!
I don’t have herpes, but I have seen Rocky Horror several score times. And dressed up. And acted in a stage performance (as Rocky).
When I was in high school, we used to go to Rocky Horror at the midnight movies almost every Friday night. Good times…
December 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am
“What, you mean you don’t want to dress like an idiot, parrot lines in sync with others, and generally act like a fool???”
We have plenty of those already; they’re called Congressmen.
December 15th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
It’s not a bad campy film … you will need to actually rent it, if you want to actually watch it.
Simply watching the film in theatres is impossible.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
… I was on a Rocky Horror tech crew for more than five years. I proposed to my wife on stage during a preshow. And I met my fiancee there.
It was a–ah, _cultural_phenomenon_ that let an awkward, socially incompetent kid develop into a socially functional pervert, and it taught me some social lessons that’re important in my “adult” life, without costing me as much as they would’ve in “real life”.
It’s a fun movie, and some casts can even be good communities for a while. And it’s much more fun when you’re making up your own callbacks.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Yes, it’s a horrible film.
And not in a good way.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
This is funny because it is true!
Jim
December 15th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Snort. Read this while babysitting a scanner today. The line “entertainment equivalent of herpes” provided fodder for much hilarity.
When you spend all day in the dungeons, listening to loud magnets, hilarity is a good thing.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Apparently, I am one of the very, very few who are naturally immune to RHPS. I watched it once (yes, all the way through) and my response was,”That’s what the big deal is all about?”
Give me a Heinlein book instead anyday.
(Maybe Heinlein works as a vaccine?)