The Films are Alive with the Sound of Music

One of the most memorable parts of a film is usually different things for various people. While the story may be the best part of Shawshank Redemption for some, I may insert that the specific character of Andy Defresne made the film what it was. However, something that many people will notice with a film is the music; it can command the film, it can weave in between the scenes, or it can subtly linger in the background of the story. Whatever the reason, films, not even musicals, have the ability to tell their stories or set the tone through music.

The following films have, what I believe to be, the best soundtracks in film. This is not to argue that these are the best films, or that they contain the best music. These films have the superlative example of bringing music into a film to set the tenor and connect to the audience.

The Big Chill – “There is no other music, not in my house.”

The Big Chill tells the story of a group of old college friends coming together at the funeral of one of their fellow friends after his suicide. The friends discuss various things as they stay together for the weekend, including their lives now and the lives they had when they were young radicals in college in the 60s. The music of the film stays near the classic Motown style, venturing off in some places to play bands such as Credence Clearwater Revival, The Beach Boys, and The Rolling Stones.

The film begins with the song “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, which is sung by one of the friend’s son as he gives him a bath. It shows how, even though the younger generation that lived in the 60s is older, their ideas and music still live on in their children. The Motown feel of the song comes in as “Heard in Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye plays as each friend finds out that their friend had just killed himself; it effectively plays into what is going on (hearing something through the grapevine) while also bringing each character back to when the song was popular and they were young. The next song, and probably most famous, is when “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stone is played at their friend’s funeral because it was his favorite song.

The film continues with the older music, and not just as part of the soundtrack. As they sit around talking, one of the characters, Harold, insists that they play his music, the older music. Another friend asked if they could play something newer, to which Harold responds “there is no other music, not in my house.” It may argue that Harold does not wish to give up the past life; however, as is learned through dialogue later, it is simply because Harold looks at it as a good time in his life and likes remembering it as that. His friends, on the other hand, view the music and each other as a reminder of who they used to be, compared to the people they are now.

The film does a wonderful job of ushering in the nostalgia that the friends feel by playing the old music they used to listen to as college kids. It’s almost as if the music brings back memories to the characters, and gives the audience a feel of what they used to be like, without even telling you everything.

Pulp Fiction – “Unlike so many soundtracks…”

As it is with many of Tarantino’s films, the music is one of the most important parts. He reminds us of this by putting music into the most important scenes and making it unforgettable music at that. And he does this at it’s best in Pulp Fiction.

The film begins with two small-time crooks robbing a restaurant. Just as the girl crook screams her famous line “any of you fucking pricks move, and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you,” the scene ends abruptly for a version of “Misirlou” by Dick Dale. This surfer style song sets the tone for the rest of the film, with its intense guitar and brash sounds; it holds in it the style of Tarantino himself.

Another notable song in the film is “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry, which Mia and Vince dance to in the famous Rack Rabbit Slim’s Twist Contest. Though the song may not fit in well with the other songs on the soundtrack, it is the perfect song for that one scene in the film. It’s 50s style tempo and beat made it the perfect song to dance to in a 50s theme restaurant, and the lyrics of the song itself does a good job of foreshadowing what is to come: “’C’est la vie’, say the old folks, ‘it goes to show you never can tell’.” This could be reference to what will happen in the next scene, when Mia overdoses on heroin. You never can tell what Tarantino’s plot will do.

An article in Time Union on Record Reviews had a beautiful explanation for why the music in Tarantino’s films stuck out more than most:

“Unlike so many soundtracks, which just seem to be repositories for stray songs by hit acts regardless of whether they fit the film’s mood, Tarantino’s use of music in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction exploded with a brash, Technicolor, pop-culture intensity that mirrored the stories he was telling. (1)”

Garden State – “You gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life, I swear.”

As the directorial debut of actor Zach Braff, the film Garden State was not what people expected it to be. Zach Braff was known for his comedic role in the show Scrubs, so when the melancholy film emerged from the writer, star, and director’s head, people were surprised by its odd style and tone.

The film begins with Zach Braff’s character, Andrew, having a nightmare about a plane crash; however instead of screaming like the other passengers, Andrew sits quietly, unable to react. He wakes up in his cold, emotionless white room to a message from his father telling him his mother is dead. Again, Andrew is unable to react and the film begins with the song “Don’t Panic” by Coldplay. It may seem like a strange song to use, but it fits in perfectly with the scene and sets the tone for the whole movie. As Andrew drives to work, the song plays as if as a reminder that his is not able to panic, and also to argue the main line of the song “we live in a beautiful world.” It’s a world that Andrew really isn’t able to see.

This is until he meets Sam, a young and quirky girl who introduces him to a new band, The Shins. She asks him if he’s ever heard of them and when he says no, she puts her headphones on him, saying “you gotta hear this one song. It’ll change your life, I swear.” The song that is playing is called “New Slang,” a slow song with guitar and tambourine that exemplifies the original style of The Shins. Andrew seems taken by the song, and by Sam, as he looks at her while the music is playing.

The rest of the film plays host to a strange assortment of songs by artists such as Simon & Garfunkel, Remy Zero, Iron & Wine, and Frou Frou. Separately, they would seem like the strangest songs to put into a soundtrack for a film; however when you sits and watch the film or listen to the soundtrack all together, the music could not mesh more perfectly. They all take on a slow, almost downhearted tone, yet all still have a hint of uplift in them. The film and music shows how shitty life can get, but that there are redeeming qualities that we have to grasp onto.

Jane Eyre – The Song of Bertha Rochester

Another type of soundtrack that is important to discuss is the soundtrack that does not consist of a compilation of songs that are pulled together to fit the film, but has music specifically made for it. This music or score is usually without lyrics and serves to be played throughout the film, in the background, and sets the tone of a film more than any other type of soundtrack. The best type of this soundtrack is the music of the newest film version of Jane Eyre.

The film’s music is dark and depressing to say the least, so that it can show the miserable life of Jane Eyre. The music weaves in between her life without her parents, being bullied by her cousins, living in a strict and religious school, and losing her best friend to illness. The only time that the music changes is when she goes to Townfield hall to work as a governess and meets Mr. Rochester, the man that would change her life. Whenever she is around Mr. Rochester or thinking about him, the music changes to something a little more lighthearted. It reaches its happy climax when Mr. Rochester asks her to marry him. The music that follows during their engagement is of peaceful bliss as Jane is finally given something she loves.

However there is a dark side to the music that the audience may not notice until watching is a second time. A certain song is played throughout the film at certain moments. It is played when Jane arrives at Thornfield, when she hears something outside of her door one night, and when Mr. Rochester plays it half-heartedly on the piano, hitting each key with one finger while lost in thought. We find out later in the film that this dark little melody is actually a favorite song of Mr. Rochester’s secret wife, Bertha. When Jane finally meets her on what she thought would be her wedding day, Bertha hums it softly in a mad daze. The audience finally sees that this song that had played throughout the film not only foreshadowed Bertha’s presence, but showed that Bertha was always there, in the background and in Mr. Rochester’s thoughts.

The film ends on a beautiful song which is completely different from the melancholy music of the beginning or the happy music that played during Jane’s engagement. It is slow and simple and is shown during the scene when Jane and Mr. Rochester are reunited after many years. It may sound in melody, similar to their music during the engagement, yet it is sweeter and softer. It plays like it is their song, yet shows that everything that has passed between them has finally come to an end and they are together without complications. It serves as a happy ending that may not be what the audience thought, but is happy nonetheless.

 

 

Bibliography, for your pleasure:

(1)   http://alb.merlinone.net/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=5844843

The Schizophrenic Swan

The White and the Black

          The film Back Swan, directing by Darren Aronofsky, is a riveting film about a young ballerina’s descent into madness as she takes on the lead roles of the Swan Queen and the Black Swan in a production of Swan Lake. Nina, a young repressed dancer with a dark and ambiguous background, slowly crumbles under the stress of her role and begins losing touch with reality. She begins having hallucinations, becoming paranoid, and beginning to literally see two sides of herself; as her dancing director puts it, “the white and the black.” And the same can be said for the film, itself. It is a truly beautiful, yet dark movie and I highly recommend it to any movie lover, especially those who enjoy the psychological thrillers. SPOILER ALERT: Do not read further if you have not seen the film because the analysis that follows tells much of the plot and ending. I invite you to watch the film and then to read on.

 

What is Schizophrenia?

During my freshman year of college, I became very fascinated with a mental illness called schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is defined as “a chronic, more or less debilitating illness characterized by perturbations in cognition, affect and behavior, all of which have a bizarre aspect. Delusions, also generally bizarre, and hallucinations, generally auditory in type, also typically occur,” (1). It affects approximately 1 percent of the world’s population. According to Dr. Glenn Shean, a clinical psychologist who wrote various books on schizophrenia and other mental disorders, there are ten types of schizophrenia: simple, hebephrenic, catatonic, paranoid, acute, latent, residual, schizo-affected, childhood, and chronic undifferentiated (2).  All of the types vary in intensity and symptoms type, to the point where no two cases of schizophrenia are ever identical. Symptoms are too fluctuating and numerous to list without an entire book being written in the process, however some of the most common symptoms are delusions, hallucinations (auditory more often than visual), disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, lack of emotion, lack of interest, and the list goes on and on (3).

After watching the film, Black Swan, I began wondering if this was the disorder that Darren Aronofsky was trying to portray. Although schizophrenia is mentioned nowhere in the film, there was just too much correlation.

Early Symptoms

One of the first things that the audience may notice about the character of Nina is her shyness and her quiet demeanor. She does not show much emotion and often keeps to herself, feeling isolated from the other girls of her dance team. The only time she shows any emotion is when her instructor does not approve of her dancing and criticizes her. Some of the warning signs for a schizophrenic include “social withdrawal,” “inability to cry or express joy,” and “extreme reaction to criticism” (3). This is in no way definitively answers the question, does she have schizophrenia, (not everyone who has these symptoms has schizophrenia, and that can be a common misconception) however as the film continues, one begins to see how these could be early symptoms.

Hallucinations

After Nina receives the part of the Swan Queen, she is loaded with an immense amount of pressure to please her director and achieve perfection. One of the proposed causes of schizophrenia is stress (4) and when Nina has more stress, her symptoms get worse. She begins having intense visual and auditory hallucinations. Although visual hallucinations are not as common in schizophrenics, Aronofsky melds the two together into this film in a very terrifying way. Nina at first has auditory hallucinations, such as hearing whispers, and small visual hallucinations, such as seeing herself in other women as they pass her. However as the stress continues, the visual hallucinations get worse (she sees her reflection doing things she is not, sees pictures moving and talking to her) and even border on unrealistic (she hallucinates a sexual act with a woman from her dance team named Lily, and later she even hallucinates herself killing Lily). But that’s the beauty of the film. Everything seems just as it does to Nina: unrealistic, yet still apparent.

Paranoia

 Another of the common symptoms with schizophrenics is delusion, and Nina very clearly shows her delusions. She constantly sees the woman from her dance troupe, Lily, everywhere she goes, and when Lily become the alternate for the Swan Queen, she is convinced it is all in a plot to overthrow her. Nina even runs up to her director and begs him not to make Lily the alternate, saying “She’s after me. She’s trying to replace me!” This is an example of “delusions of persecution – belief that others, often a vague ‘they,’ are out to get him or her. These persecutory delusions often involve bizarre ideas and plots…” (3).

Scratching

Another less known indication of schizophrenia is scratching, which is a method of bodily self-harm that some schizophrenics can suffer from (5). The first example of scratching can be seen when Nina notices scratches on her back and looks at them like she doesn’t know where they came from. Her mother then notices them and quickly cuts Nina’s fingernails, exclaiming “you’ve been scratching yourself again… it’s the role isn’t it? I knew it’d be too much pressure, I knew it.” As I was watching the film the second time, I began noticing scenes where the camera man follows Nina from behind and Nina is subtly scratching her shoulder, something I didn’t notice the first time.

The Suicide

 Another symptom that can go hand in hand with schizophrenia is depression to the point of attempted suicide. According to the American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Schizophrenia, “40% of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia will have at least one suicide attempt in the course of their illness” (5). At the end of the film, as Nina finishes her performance as Swan Queen, Nina realizes that she has stabbed herself and dies as her performance ends. It could be argued that this was suicide, which goes along tragically with her character as Swan Queen, who commits suicide in the ballet, however it could be speculated that Nina didn’t realize that she had hurt herself.

Through Her Terrified Eyes

All in all, the film still continues to be a mesmeric portrayal of a girl’s fall to insanity. Whether or not Aronofsky truly had schizophrenia in mind, it is still one of the best portrayals of the symptoms that I have ever seen. All of the hallucinations are from Nina’s point of view; therefore as she is frantically wondering what is real and what is in her head, so is the audience. Furthermore his ability to startle and scare the audience puts them in Nina’s place of terror and in some ways shows unaffected people the horrors that can go with schizophrenia.

Bibliography, for your pleasure:

(1)   http://www.brown.edu/Courses/BI_278/Other/Clerkship/Didactics/Readings/Schizophrenia.pdf

(2)    Shean, Glenn. Schizophrenia: An Introduction to Research and Theory. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop Publishers, Inc., 1978. 31-32. Print.

(3)   http://helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm

(4)   http://www.schizophrenia.com/hypo.php

(5)   http://books.google.com/books?id=bk4IPCprqicC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=Schizophrenia+scratching&source=bl&ots=7D5WqKfOx9&sig=BHZ-3M2SXxOgvzsUeW-OsxwfKZA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wVZBT7KeMarL0QHpv7nvBw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Schizophrenia%20scratching&f=false

The “Hollywoodization” of Frodo Baggins

Lord of the Rings Nights

          One of the biggest movies to hit the big screen in the past decade has been the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, a film series that relays the magical word concocted by J.R.R. Tolkien, possible one of the greatest fantasy writers to ever live. The films did more than just stir some geek hearts. The three films won a total of 17 Academy Awards and for categories such as “Best Cinematography,” “Best Makeup,” “Best Original Score,” and even “Best Picture.”

Eye intensity level 100

My friends and I are huge fans of the series. We attempt to watch all the films together at least twice a year, which doesn’t always happen, as all three films have a total running time of 11 hours and 23 minutes. Something that my friends have a tendency of doing is skipping boring scenes so they can get to the battles and hot elves. And the scenes that get cut down more than others are the ones featuring the characters of Frodo and Sam. It cannot be denied; Frodo and Sam’s scenes can get dull, compared to the action packed scenes with Gandalf, Aragorn, and the others. Hell, even Treebeard’s scenes were more stimulating. A few of my friends often complain when we watch the films, claiming that Frodo is the most obnoxious character of the series. He whines, cries, and is ultimately duped into telling his best friend to “go home” so he can be led to death by Gollum. People can’t relate to him, find his story dull (even though he is the main character), and prefer taking a bathroom break when Elijah Wood’s face takes the screen.

        I am here to set the record straight. If you are going to hate the character of Frodo in the film, have the decency to blame those who actually turned his character into an obnoxious whiner: Peter Jackson and his team of writers. The character of Frodo in the books is actually a very impressive character that the reader comes to respect and love. His “Hollywoodization” refers to his transformation from sympathetic hero to drama queen. And why? Simply because the director and writers wanted to make his story more interesting.

 Frodo: Actually a Badass

        Remember the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Frodo and his gang of hobbits are being attacked by the Ring-Wraiths while Aragorn, their protector, is off picking berries or something? In the scene Frodo falls to the ground like a damsel and is stabbed by the Witch-King because he wouldn’t give him the ring. Then Frodo becomes a zombie-types mess almost instantly and has to be rushed off to Rivendell by Arwen, the sexy she-elf. All in all, Frodo is unimpressive and Arwen saves the day. Well, that is not how it went down at all in the original story…

            Yes, the hobbits were attacked, but Frodo did a little more than fall and cower. The awesome power of the Ring-Wraiths to instill fear in people is mainly psychological and not something that can be shown on screen. Therefore Frodo’s actions during this scene are difficult to portray as anything but cowardly, when in reality he acts audaciously. Sam, Merry, and Pippin are the ones who actually cower on the ground. Frodo is the only one who draws his sword, and when the Witch-King attacks him, he dodges him and actually slices the Witch-King’s leg. After that the Witch-King stabs Frodo with a poisonous blade. Frodo actually travels for days with the others with the poison in his system. He feels cold and weak, but he is anything but a half-conscious victim. He even laughs and jokes with the others as they travel. And it is not Arwen, Aragorn’s love, who enters to save them. They meet an elf named Glorfindel, who gives Frodo his horse so that Frodo can make the journey on his own!

Wait a minute! No Arwen? No chase scene? No epic stand on the banks of Rivendell? Well, not exactly. Frodo runs from the Ring-Wraiths on his own and when he gets to the borders of Rivendell, he shouts at them “Go back to the land of Mordor and follow me no more… By Elbereth and Luthien the Fair… you shall have neither the Ring nor me!” all while brandishing his sword. Not bad for a Hobbit.

Ted Nasmith's (a Tolkien inspired painter) rendering of Frodo being a boss (click to magnify).

But why did this otherwise impressive scene for Frodo have to be altered? Because Peter Jackson decided that Arwen needed a bigger part on the story than she originally had. He needed the sex appeal. Lord of the Rings caters most to men, but where are the impressive lady characters? Eowyn, who was as impressive in the books as she was in the movies, doesn’t show up until The Two Towers. So they spruced up the character of Arwen a bit for the male viewers and the character of Frodo suffered. Why does Frodo need to be a hero? The women already have Aragorn and Legolas to look at and Frodo ends up failing to destroy the ring himself in the end, so there’s no harm in making him the weak link.

 Frodo: Actually Faithful to his Friends

          The other great injustice done to the character of Frodo is the scene in The Return of The King, where he tells Sam to leave him because Gollum convinced Frodo that Sam is against him. Gollum then leads Frodo to Shelob, a giant spider, and his stabbed with a stinger. And if that isn’t pathetic enough, Frodo actually says Sam’s name as he wanders blindly through the dark

I'm not even going to get into the unnecessary homosexual undertones of these two characters.

tunnels. How is Frodo’s character that easily convinced? Hey, Frodo, ‘gullible’ is written on the dark, creepy tunnel’s ceiling.

            But in reality, Frodo is never convinced by Gollum of anything. The entire relationship between Frodo and Gollum is untrue. Frodo takes pity on Gollum and decides not to kill him, just as his uncle did in The Hobbit, and decides to use him as a guide because he really had no other option. But he never connects with Gollum on an emotional level or begins to prefer his over Sam. In the scene where Frodo is stabbed by Shelob, Sam is only away from him because they were temporarily separated in the tunnels. Frodo never tells Sam to go away because he ate all the lembas bread. What is this Days of Our Lives?

So why put in all the unnecessary drama? Because, in all honesty, Frodo and Sam’s side of the story is kind of dull. It’s pretty much them just walking to Mordor with a sulking creature. In the original books, Frodo and Sam’s story did not take up as much of the book and most of their actions went by quickly. The entire story, starting with Frodo and Sam meeting Gollum, to Frodo being stabbed by Shelob (which actually occurred in The Two Towers) takes up approximately 185 pages. Not a lot of material to stretch between nearly two movies, especially when most of it is talking about ancient mythologies and descriptions of the land around them. So Peter Jackson decided to spruce it up by making Frodo, Sam, and Gollum have a kind of awkward love triangle. Thus the character of Frodo, who has already been deemed weak by the audience and writers, is altered again for the sake of the film. Hollywoodized.

One hobbits journey from inspiring Tolkien character to something Stephanie Meyer could have written.

Rocky Horror and the Lure of the Deviant

The Cult Classic

            The definition of a cult film and what one would consider to be a cult classic has always been altered due to time period and personal taste. However the most excepted definition is a film that has acquired a mass or following over time of people who worship the film. However another aspect of the cult film that isn’t realized is that a cult film usually did horribly at the box office, sending people storming from the theatres in rage, demanding their money back, And then when the films were released on video, there was a strange rise in the film’s popularity, so much to the point that they actually received a cult following.

Many wonder why or how these films could have assimilated such a throng of supporters. We will look at one of the ultimate cult films, which did terrible in theatres and later developed an entourage of fans, and has also been included on various lists of cult classics (http://www.filmsite.org/cultfilmsew.html,  http://www.totalfilm.com/features/the-34-greatest-cult-movies-of-all-time/the-rocky-horror-picture-show-1975, and http://www.nerve.com/movies/the-fifty-greatest-cult-movies-of-all-time?page=4)  to see if we can see why we worship the celluloid.

 

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

  For those of you who have not seen The Rocky Horror Picture show I will one, highly recommend it, and two give you a short synopsis of the plot.

The story begins when a young couple, Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, travel to tell their old teacher that they are engaged. One the way their tire goes flat during a storm and they have to seek shelter from a nearby castle. Little do they know that the castle is the home of Dr. Frank-N-furter, a transvestite scientist, and his entourage of anti-conformists. What ensues is a hilarious array of situations that include impulsive sex (both heterosexual and homosexual), Frankensteinian science experiments, and fishnet wearing dances. The plot is terrible, the singing and song lyrics are ridiculous, and characters are both horrible and memorable.

The film of course did not do well when it first came out, however a year after it was first released, it was turned into a midnight movie. After that it was not long until the cult ensued and the film is now actually the longest running theatrical release in film history (http://kisselpaso.com/tags/longest-running-theatrical-release-in-movie-history/). Now when you go to the theatre to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show, you better be prepared to do more than watch a movie.

Dress is almost always a social requirement. Anything that includes fish nets and lingerie should be sufficient; the scantier the better, for both men and women. It would be best to bring some necessary props as well, such as a newspaper to guard yourself from the rain during the rain scene, rice to throw during the wedding scene, and toast to throw at the screen when Frank proposes a toast over dinner.

Not only that, but there basically an unwritten script to stuff that the audience is supposed to yell at the screen. During the scene when the lips fade out and a cross fades in, the audience will yell “crucify the lips!” at the screen. Every time Brad introduces himself and Janet to a character on the screen the audience will yell “asshole!” after Brad’s name and “slut!” after Janet’s. There is a plethora of things the audience can yell at the screen other than the traditional things, such as “waiter there’s a transvestite in my soup,” (when Frank is floating in a pool) “it’s impolite to chew with your mouth full,” (when Frank is having oral sex with Brad), or “sluts can’t read,” (when Janet reads a newspaper). The things yelled at the screen, as seen above are crude and usually very offensive. An actual written up script of the play and what you can screen is found here (http://www.rhps.org/archive/text/scripts/script.all.dec24.95.txt). Audience members are also expected to dance during the infamous Time Warp scene. There is also usual a cast of audience members who dress as characters from the show and actually go on stage and act out the performance while the movie is going on.

 

Why the Cult Following?

 It could be argued that the film really lends itself to being an interactive film. For example, the Time Warp, the song that everyone dances to, actually tells you what to dance through the lyrics (it’s just a jump to the left and a step to the right…). Furthermore the plot and dialogue is so horribly written, while also very crude and sexual, that it is easy for the audience to make fun of it. The characters as well are all a little too ridiculous to not make fun of. But even all of this isn’t enough to have caused groups of seemingly normal people to dress in fish nets and lingerie in public, dance around, and shout obscenities at a screen.

From personal experience I can say there is something to the mood of the movie theatre and audience when you’re at a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening. It could be described as something like impulsive confidence. Everyone is in drag, essentially, and acting like fools, thus giving others the confidence to act like fools as well. You can’t worry about dressing too inappropriately because chances are there’s somewhere there dressed more ridiculously. You don’t have to worry about disrupting other audience members by yelling at the screen because that’s what everyone is doing. You don’t have to worry about possibly offending someone with your crude humor because there’s always someone there shouting even cruder things. Everyone is doing it, so why not?

And that really is the explanation for the actions that people do at the screenings. It really is something like a cult mentality to it. For those couple of hours you are surrounded by a group of strangers, however you are all drawn to this one deity, in this case a film. It is comforting knowing that everyone around you is essentially just like you.

 

Why this Particular Movie?

 Another thing we have to ask is why is there such a following for this particular movie? Harry Benshoff said it best in his book, The Monster and the Homosexual, when he said “the conventions of normality are ritualistically overturned within a prescribed period of time in order to celebrate the lure of the deviant.” While Benshoff was referring to horror films that portrayed homosexual characters or tendencies, it still very much relates to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

What this film does to its audience exactly what it is portraying: the seduction of the sweet, virginal peoples (Brad and Janet) into the world of the degenerative transvestite and premarital sex. At the beginning of the film Brad and Janet and adorned in normal, concealing clothes and behave very conservatively. By the end of the film they have both engaged in premarital sex and are dressed in corsets and fish net tights. In the same way the audience is morphed from everyday people into beings of promiscuity and primitiveness. They dance around the theatre dressed in fish nets and high-hells and shout out cuss words and inappropriate callbacks. The lure of the deviant, the ability to be something you aren’t for a couple of hours, is what draws the masses.