This week was another very engaging week for me. We focused on the continuing of the 1970’s, and the midnight movie phenomenon. One of the first things we learned about that was occurring in this era of film was front-loading.
Front loading was and is the product of studios that are horizontally integrated. It involves many things such as the sale of merchandise both before and after the movie is released. The first huge implementation of this tactic belongs to the Jaws franchise. When the movie first began showing, everyone bought the t-shirts, cups, and even games that had “Jaws” on it. The impact that this movie made by selling this merchandise was unlike any other. The mas release of “Jaws” (450 prints) made the movie instantly popular across the country, and only helped merchandise sales further.
The reading this week was titled cult reception, and there was a section about midnight movies. The three midnight movies mainly featured in this section were “El Topo, Rocky Horror Picture show, and Donnie Darko.” One of my favorite talking points of this article was the paragraph that talked about the progression of the 1970’s. This progression brought about the loss of momentum that was the original countercultural moment. However, the popularity of midnight movies was widely spreading. The films that were widening the boundaries of cinema and replaced original titles, were regarded as aesthetic radicalism. A very good example of this type of film is “Pink Flamingos.
The screening that was exhibited this week was “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” I had never seen this film, and the anticipation I had before seeing it, was very high indeed.
The intro to this film with the red-lipped close-up singing a song is very recognizable. The frozen image of those lips will forever be an image that once see, will remind anyone who’s seen this film the joy that is shortly to follow.
When we first talked about this film on Monday, we learned that it was originally a theatrical production, and many of the roles in the production, were filled by the same people that were in the movie. This aspect to me was very astounding. As I have eluded to in my previous blogs, I was really big into musicals throughout my middle and high-school years. I only needed to listen to a few lines from the first song to know that I wanted to be able to see this original show in person, but even though that’s not possible, the movie grants it just about as much justice as I thought possible.
The audience participation in this film to me when I first heard it, was rather distracting, and I didn’t like it. But after a few scenes and getting to call Brand and Janet an asshole and a slut made me realize just how creative and fun the participation was.
I very much enjoyed this film, and I felt that it exceeded every expectation I had for it. I cant wait to see it at a drive-in this summer, and add some more viewings, and participation under my belt.
History of the Motion Picture 
I, like you, am planning to get a few more viewings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show under my wing this summer. I found it especially interesting to learn that Riff-Raff was played by the playwriter of the original theatrical production, Richard O’Brien.
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I found it interesting that the people who watched Rocky Horror Picture Show in the theater participated whilst watching the film. When I heard that was what we would be doing during the film I got excited and participated with the class but it just started to get a little irritating that I had to follow the script and a lot of the audience script was repetitive as well, like the part when we got to call Brand and Janet an asshole and a slut. I found it funny at first but it just got too repetitive. Maybe if I watch Rocky Horror Picture Show a few more times and memorize the script it would be different.
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It’s interesting how ingrained into our culture “front-loading” became. This week reminded me of all of the shirts I had growing up that was a product of this, Jaws, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and so many others are just staples, shirts, posters, VCRs I had around growing up. It made the movie making more personal in a way I think, you could take the movie experience home with you and that’s something I think many people value.
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I really love that everyone in the class had such a high expectation for this film. Rocky Horror has become a famous name that has a lot of hype around it even decades after it’s creation. For such a quirky film it has maintained it’s popularity.
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