Excited to attend my very first Rocky Horror Picture Show screening at the Bloor Cinema on Halloween night, 2004, I waited in anticipation (no pun intended) in the theatre, enduring the smell of dried pop and stale popcorn.
To prepare for my first show, I had read up on the history of the event, watched the DVD with the call-back lines on, and even worn a costume. However, when the movie started and the actors stepped out on stage, I noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the crowd. Maybe I was being overly enthusiastic, I thought, since it was my first time. But my friends, who were Rocky Horror veterans, also noticed the general lack of excitement from those in attendance.
When I showed up for another Rocky Horror screening the following year, I felt even less enthusiasm from the crowd. At the gay pride parade this year, I saw the Bloor Street Rocky Horror float and thought that at least in these surroundings the cast would receive much applause. Instead, not only was the crowd apathetic, but some were booing this classic float!
At this point I was forced to wonder if Rocky Horror was declining in popularity, and I began to consider what the potential cause for this decline could be. However, one could point to the sensational turnout at Hart House Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show last year and conclude that the show isn’t less popular after all.
Perhaps the lack of reaction at the Bloor Cinema screenings simply illustrates how desensitized today’s youth has become towards that which was once considered shocking. When it first came out, Rocky Horror would not be a movie that one would show to children because of its mature content. Today, it could almost be considered a children’s movie in comparison to the more graphic and explicit media available, especially on the internet.
What effect might this cultural shift have on future generations of young people? My concern was amplified as I overheard three girls, about fifteen years old, doing ketamine in the washroom stall at the movie this Halloween, complaining how badly they were craving it at school that day. I was forced to wonder if the increasingly adult media that young people are exposed to with ever-increasing frequency was encouraging this kind of behavior in young teens. On the other hand, many in the audience were merely enjoying the film and the fun it had to offer drug-free.
Maybe the fact that the relatively mild content of Rocky Horror was considered shocking in the 70’s is more a condemnation of the prudishness of our parents’ generation than the debauchery of our more accepting culture. The increased explicitness found in modern entertainment has been accompanied by an increase in social tolerance of alternative lifestyles and what was once considered divergent behavior. If anything, more authoritarian cultures breed increased and more destructive forms of rebellion from those youth who are not crushed by extreme social constraints. Perhaps a more open society is better for youth than we think.
