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Director's Note: The Philosophy of The Rocky Horror Show |
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“Don't Dream It, Be It.” For 30 years, this lyric has defined the philosophy of Rocky Horror. Written at the peak of a social revolution, Dr. Frank N. Furter's refrain was embraced by fans who celebrated the liberation from traditional boundaries and the intoxicating empowerment of radical individualism. A generation later, this mantra has been enshrined not just by a cultish fringe, but by our society at large. Today, what was once dangerous and exotic is mass-marketed to every living room. To be, rather than to dream, is now regarded as an inalienable right. But for every freedom gained, something must be lost. When we can be whatever we want, what becomes of our dreams? However, Rocky Horror ends not with Frank's paean to self-actualization, but with a bitter and prophetic warning. Janet mourns a world where “Superheroes come to feast, to taste the flesh not yet deceased,” and the narrator reminds us that we are “insects called the human race, lost in time and space and meaning.” Is this not our world, where our celebrity gods descend to feed upon a willing body public, where we know everything and believe nothing? Brad and Janet are our American Adam and Eve, expelled naked from paradise after tasting the forbidden fruit of knowledge. As in every hero's journey, the final step on the path from innocence to experience is the realization that one can never return to the home left behind. The Right, as personified by Riff Raff, and the Left, embodied by Frank N. Furter, collide against each other, casually crushing us to pulp between them. |
The golden age of American innocence is lost to us forever, along with the spook shows and drive-ins. But for one night, perhaps we can take a time warp. It's just a jump to the left, back to the sights and sounds of that vanished world. And then, a step to the right into the brave new world crafted by the good doctor and his spiritual heirs. Join us in the dance, but beware that it doesn't drive you insane… |
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