YOU BETTER WISE UP JANET WEISS Reclaiming Queerness

YOU BETTER WISE UP, JANET WEISS Reclaiming Queerness in the Rocky Horror Picture Show

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW • Premiered 1975 • Initially a flop • Cult Classic • Still shown weekly across the country

PLOT • Teens Brad and Janet on a ride • Stranded at spooky castle • Transvestite Mad Scientist making a man • Strife and Shenanigans • Scientist and Creature are killed • Castle teleports away

THEORETICAL LENS- WHAT IS “QUEER” • Reclaimed slur • Halperin- “Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant” • Generally accepted term in academia for LGBT studies • Subverts or critiques societal norms

SCHOLARLY WORK ON “ROCKY” • Fairly well discussed work • Seen as “a manifesto for sex-and-whatever-else-feels-good”, (Kilgore 153) • “The fact that [Furter’s] work produces Rocky rather than some patchwork monstrosity implies that Dionysian values, sexuality and excess, are incomparably more “creative” that Apollonian ones, ” ( Kilgore 154) • However- ultimately reductive • Implies Frank’s demise negates his message

THE SWIMMING POOL SCENE • • Penultimate scene “Don’t dream it, be it” “carries a threat of metamorphosis; its price is a loss of identity, or at least of dignity and autonomy. ” (Kilgore 157) Obvious projection- who here has lost the above? Previously, each character gives a statement Each dealing with their awakening in their own way None blame Frank

ROCKY AS A COMING OF AGE TALE • Some critics have cast Rocky Horror as a coming of age tale • “Beneath its surface-level celebration of sexual desire and overt message of hedonism, the film instead preserves and reinforces an ethos of restraint and moderation. ” (Reale 138) • Saturnalian ritual, one time event • The text does not support this interpretation

BRAD AND JANET, POST ROCKY • By the end, Brad and Janet are changed- but not into adults • The immensity of sexual liberation is too much to withstand • Clearly they will not go on to stereotypical hetero lives

FRANK’S DEATH • Many critics reason that Frank’s death= return to normalcy • Brad and Janet will never return to “normal” • Frank dies because his work is done

FRANK’S KILLER, RIFF RAFF • Frank is murdered by his manservant, Riff Raff • If Frank’s death= return to normalcy, why is he killed by someone equally hedonistic and perverted? • Riff Raff is played by Richard O'Brien, screenwriter lyricist and composer • “He stands for control, but for the enlightened, almost reluctant control of art and imagination. ” (Kilgore 158)

FRANK AS ART • If Riff Raff= Artist, then Frank=Art • Frank creates Rocky, the physical manifestation of sexual desire • Like all art, Frank must end • Good art changes us

QUEER THEORY IN ROCKY HORROR • “There is no gender identity behind the expressions of gender; . . . identity is per formatively constituted by the very "expressions" that are said to be its results. ” (Butler 25) • Gender as performance is a very important idea for Rocky • Frank represents a complex gender performance

FRANK’S PRONOUNS • Despite feminine presentation, Frank exclusively uses male pronouns • “Logically, if we assume that Frank is biologically male, then his transvestitism would cause him to dress as a woman, but his transsexuality would actually make him a woman, thus producing a “female woman, ” which he seems not to be; if he is female, then following the same logic, he would become a “male man. ” Neither seems to be the case. ” (Lamm 198)

THE PARAMOUNT QUEER • In Butler’s terms, Frank represents “the perspective of “feminine” identity… juxtaposed on the “male body” as ground, but both terms… through the juxtaposition, lose their internal stability and distinctness. ” (122) • Frank destabilizes everything

WHY DOES IT MATTER? • As LGBT rights move forward, it is vital to remember our roots • Films like Rocky shake up the culture, and allow for a greater ranger of gender expression • How many young Brad’s and Janet’s have been changed by Rocky Horror?

Thank you for your time