Pendell

@pendell

Current Hyperfixation: Wizard of Oz

He/Him

I use outdated technology just for fun, listen to crappy music, and watch a lot of horror movies. Expect posts about These Things. I talk a lot.

Check tags like Star Trek Archive and Media Piracy to find things I share for others.

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Pendell @pendell9/18/2023, 4:42 AM

Cliff 🦖 Pervocracy @pervocracy

Cliff 🦖 Pervocracy @pervocracy6/11/2023, 2:14 AM

the Rocky Horror Picture Show is an amazing work of cinematic art because everything about it absolutely screams "we're making this up as we go" and then you find out that it had been running as a stage musical for years

it even has a "lol we forgot an ending" ending--that's the same in the show! how did they perform this night after night and still keep the 2 AM vibes

(also: the worst discourse I ever participated in was "is Rocky Bad Representation?" forgive me. overthought myself into some "nuanced" take of like "well we must remember it is a product of its time and holds community significance..." when the correct answer was, in retrospect, a protracted wet fart noise)

#the rocky horror picture show

Pendell @pendell9/18/2023, 4:42 AM

The best part is, because it's so clearly committed to its tributes to the classic sci-fi/horror of the 40s, 50s, and 60s, drawing so many aesthetic and narrative choices from that era of film, it becomes genuinely difficult to tell if that nonsensical, dreamlike "making it up as we go" vibe is unintentional, or a completely purposeful artistic choice to further emulate those kinds of movies. Like, is the abrupt ending just that the writers forgot to come up with an ending and tossed some nonsense together? Or did they specifically choose to commit to a cop-out ending from the beginning because that's what a lot of those RKO flicks did back in the day?

#the rocky horror picture show #rocky horror

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The Pnictogen Wing @pnictogen-wing9/18/2023, 5:04 AM

it's a literal cop-out ending, too—all of a sudden it turns out Richard O'Brien is the Fun Police, he mows everybody down like a Chicago cop, and the movie's symbol of straitlaced human authority, Dr. Scott, is very pleased with the turn of events. it hadn't occurred to me that this might have been an oblique reference to classic Hollywood horror or monster movies hastily contriving some way for cops or soldiers or scientists or some other authority figures to save the situation at the last minute, in order to satisfy Hays-Code moral values. ~Chara

Pendell @pendell9/18/2023, 5:24 AM

Precisely this. It's especially absurd as it makes no real sense for those characters to behave that way - certainly they were upset with Frank and had their reasons to dislike him, but "your lifestyle's too extreme" is hot coming from the incestuous brother and sister, and it makes one wonder what a normal lifestyle would be for an alien from Transsexual, Transylvania. Then after killing Frank and Rocky there's an even more bizarre moment where Magenta asks "But I thought you liked them? They liked you." And Riff Raff screams like an indignant child throwing a temper tantrum "THEY DIDN'T LIKE ME! THEY NEVER LIKED ME!" It's exactly the kind of hilariously reductive oversimplification of his character that one would expect from a scene dashed together by a third party script editor brought in to "fix" the ending to make the film "acceptable".

The Pnictogen Wing @pnictogen-wing9/18/2023, 5:39 AM

but we get the bittersweetness of "I'm Going Home" out of it too...

Pendell @pendell9/18/2023, 7:24 PM

That one's so good, but also seems to clash with what (little) we know. Frank suddenly exposing a self-consciousness and desire to be accepted and adored that we never saw before, seemingly he left his home planet in shame (I guess because his "lifestyle's too extreme"?). It might conflict with his characterization but I see it as the Richard O'Brien tossing aside everything and making the subtext the text right at the end. Tragic story of someone seeking acceptance in a world that's not ready for them yet, struck down as a villain by the harsh moral codes of the era.

... kinda feels like the story of Ed Wood and "Glen or Glenda" in a way. Which is a comparison that now seems blindingly obvious but one I'd somehow never considered before. If Plan Nine From Outer Space had an angora-wearing transvestite in it.

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