The idea of a midnight movie is great - in a time when the acceptable part of society is in cozy slumber, all of the backward, reprehensible characters in the dark pits of our souls can come out and enjoy a short celebration of light-hearted debauchery together. The movement originally started on TV in the 50s, but the 70s brought it to public movie theaters, solidifying the nature of "cult movies" and bringing with it a slew of surreal mindfucks and B-movies from Alejandro Jodorowski's "El Topo" to John Waters' "Pink Flamingos." However, fast forward 40 years, and the only movie your likely to see showing late at night in your local, seedy independent theaters is "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and it seems like it has been that way for as long as most people can remember. So what happened?
I guess for starters, Rocky Horror was the most successful and popular midnight movie of its day, debuting in 1975 and cementing cult status in 1976 because of it's sexual depravity and frank absurdity. It helped that it was perhaps the most fun of the midnight movies, displacing abstract drug-addled conceits with ridiculous dialogue and character interactions and catchy showtunes. But definitely the main reason for its popularity is the aspect of audience participation, which didn't really begin happening until the late 70s. What likely began as a few well placed jokes from audience members and theater workers as the result of weekly showings at local theaters eventually evolved into a tight-knit script. Together with the hazing of the "virgins" who have never seen the midnight show, the live actors on stage performing all of the scenes in the movie, the use of props and all of the audience cross-dressers, there's no question that Rocky Horror was and is the king of cult entertainment. But this is where the problems begin. Nowadays, movie theaters tend to stick solely with showing Rocky Horror, and this leads to interesting consequences. This mostly dawned on me when I went to a showing in Albany this past weekend, and the crowd was divided into distinct groups: those who had never seen the movie and those (mostly the cast and theater workers) who had clearly seen it way too many times. In particular, there was one guy who happened to be sitting right next to me (clearly drunk, but that's a given) who took it on himself to not just make fun of the movie, but make fun of the fact that they have to make fun of the movie. Apparently, this was to actually make watching it two times a month for 15 years endurable, where the lyrics to the Time Warp are actually "Let's do the same shit again!" and a particularly unfunny running joke about fucking the criminologists chin. This left first-time watchers completely in the dust, not knowing what to make of either the movie or the audience. My question is: if, at this point, having to sit through this movie is that difficult for even the biggest of fans, why stick with it? If I had to guess, it's for two simple reasons - it's familiar and it's easy. But for a movement that's meant to cater to the bizarre and filthy, does it really make sense to turn it into a routine?
I guess this is just my address to theaters that are still clinging on to the midnight movie only for the sake of Rocky Horror: you're doing it wrong. If you're going to open up your venue to the outsiders, at least give them an option. I'm sure you'll find an audience down to watch "Eraserhead," or even something modern, like "REPO: The Genetic Opera" or "Shortbus." For now, though, I guess we'll just have to do the time warp again.
No comments:
Post a Comment