For the past five years, Ball State has brought its rendition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Pruis Hall on Halloween night. Some go for excitement, others go to figure out what the show is about and hell, some people may go just to watch girls run around in their underwear for two hours. But the show has much more to offer beneath its surface. It gives viewers a chance to throw pre-conceived notions of gender, sex, and individuality out the window.
The musical stage play, book and lyrics were written by Richard O’Brien in the '70s as a humorous tribute to science fiction and horror movies. However, to O’Brien, this was much more than just a show. For him, this line from Dr. Frank 'N' Furter summarizes its larger message: “Don’t dream it, be it."
In 1983, O’Brien was asked by CNN what that line really meant, to which he replied: “It means realize your dreams, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something and be yourself…..we’re all freaks at times, there is no norm…God made us in different ways thankfully and that’s the somewhat childish message I’m trying to get across." And that he did.
Another one of the movie's main messages is that sex should be perceived as enjoyable and not something to be condemned. Some actually consider the show to represent different sides of the sexual revolution. Rocky Horror satirizes sex in America by personifying in Brad and Janet the two responses American society had toward the sexual revolution of the 1960s and '70s. For example, Brad responds by fighting even harder than before to stop the progression of sexual freedom, to demonize homosexuality, to condemn sexual independence in women, to blame all of America’s misconceptions, which are otherwise healthy expressions of sexuality, as dirty and inappropriate. The other half of America — Janet — responded with an almost manic sexual celebration and a kind of aggressive experimentation that today may seem outrageous. But if we think about it, is it really so outrageous for sexuality to be over the top in today’s society? Not really. Through advertisements and TV shows, sex and gender are everywhere, pushing limits everyday, and it’s not going to stop anytime soon.
Since the movie was released in 1975, it has become a worldwide phenomenon and a stepping-stone in the LGBT community. This movie made it okay for people who were considered “different” to be themselves which is why it is such a cult classic to this day. The show explores American sexual hang-ups, the excesses of the Sexual Revolution of the '70s, and the sometimes cruel myth of the American Dream. And because the show was created entirely by British artists, it has the advantage of genuine objectivity in its exploration and satire of these mostly American phenomena. However, when it was first performed in America in 1973, many of the people involved with the first productions of Rocky Horror said in interviews that the subsequent American productions in Los Angeles and New York made the film version lose much of what’s important about the show — its grit, its confrontational directness, its relationship with its audience — but it hasn't seemed to lose any of that.
One hundred Ball State students had to be turned away this year because there were no more seats in the auditorium. That proves even more that this show only gets better with age. Throughout the years this show has expressed freedom and liberation no matter what your gender or sexual orientation is. However, I didn’t really understand what that meant…until I joined the cast.
I went to see the show for the first time during my freshman year at Ball State and I left the auditorium saying to myself, “I need to be a part of this next year.” To me, it seemed like a lot of fun to act that way. But as I did the show last year and especially this year, I started to realize that most of the cast, if not all of us, weren’t acting. For example, this year during the pre-show I walked around with “free kisses” painted on my chest, thinking to myself, “Oh, this should be crazy, fun and slightly awkward, let's do it.” But as I was walking around the lobby giving kisses to those who wanted them (I got 16 by the way), I didn’t find it weird at all. In fact people praised me for it, but the comment that really hit home was when a random stranger came up to me and asked, “So you’re giving free kisses?” To which I replied: “Yes”. Then he asked: “Are you sober?” I laughed and said “Yes” and then he just looked at me and said not that it was weird, or odd, or "you’re going to get mono." He looked me right in the eyes and said, “That’s beautiful.” Then he told me his coming out story and how much this show meant to him. That was the hit home moment, that’s when I realized that this is much more than just a musical where people run around half naked. It’s a place where people can come to be themselves, just for a few hours and forget what society says is right and wrong. And if you were to ask any of the cast to describe what we are I can guarantee you that all of our answers would be the same: A family.
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