This blog owes it's existence to the random thought that The Rocky Horror Picture Show might be David Bowie's secret biography. It isn't true, but it should be. Just a thought...
I was discussing with my teenage son the impact that Rocky Horror had on popular culture in the early 70s, and he asked me what it would take for a film to have the same type of impact today. My only response was that one could probably be made, but it probably wouldn't be released, as it would have to be a snuff film (or something as equally outrageous) to have the same shock value that that long slow scan from the tapping high heel-clad foot to the corset and onward and upward to the sudden realization that the body we'd just been appreciating (to put it politely) was distinctly male. Tame by today's standards, but the "in your face" impact then was immense. The humor and story still resonate, as evidenced by my son's fascination with and appreciation for the movie's wonderful camp/kink and my observation that lines from the movie still pop up as in jokes with my generation. Some things change, others don't. Most things do change, but only superficially, like trailer parks becoming "manufactured housing communities". But there's just not much "Boo!" left in taboo, unless you still hold your pants up with the Bible Belt.
To paraphrase Abby Hoffman "Anyone who claims to remember the 70s wasn't partying with the same crowd I was".
comment welcome
flames will be doused with (ethanol free) gasoline
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
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