“Hey, Janet, are you a slut?” the audience yelled at the woman on screen at Bryan, Jr. Auditorium.”Well, yes I am,” Janet replied, followed by laughter from the crowd of 100+. This was the essence of the midnight screening of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Halloween.
“Rocky Horror Picture Show,” or just “Rocky” as it’s referred to by enthusiasts, was released in 1975 and, after flopping at the box office, became a cult classic with fans dressing up as characters and calling back lines to the movie. The movie is traditionally shown at midnight on Halloween.
The group of students that brought the production to Guilford, most of whom were Yachting Club members, had to fight just to be able to show the movie.
“A bunch of people from different clubs wanted to [show the movie], but didn’t have the money,” sophomore Seth Van Horn said. Van Horn organized support for the event and eventually persuaded Student Union to pay the $525 copyright fee that allowed the movie to be shown. Yachting Club and Pride, with some help from Revelers and the Piper, paid for props and costuming.
“I knew a lot of people on campus who liked it,” said Van Horn. [Showing the movie] was actually suggested by a number of people. We all got together and agreed to do it.The support was out there, people just weren’t talking.
“I wanted to do this program because I’ve always thought it was a big part of the college experience.there’s a whole subculture out there, and, in the Guilford spirit of diversity, we can throw in one more thing.”
The event itself was a smorgasbord of costumes. Costumes were spread across the spectrum; from angels to devils; from pirates to monsters; from dominatrixes to French maids; from fairies (the real kind) to, well, fairies (the other kind). Then, of course, there were people dressed as the characters.
People who had never seen Rocky before, also known as “Rocky Virgins,” had a scarlet letter “V” written across their foreheads.
The turnout was very high. The event was originally scheduled to take place in the Duke Leak Room but was moved to Bryan, Jr. Auditorium. However, even that was not enough space.
The crowd spilled into the aisles; people stood inside the entrance; extra chairs were brought in.
All the students in the auditorium were brought together by the same movie, but it may have meant something different to every one of them.
For sophomore Hannah Winkler, it was about sex. “Why do Rocky?” she asked. “It releases sexual frustration.I can see boys dress up in very little. I can see girls dress up in very little. I have an excuse to get away with wearing very little.It’s a very erotic film… It’s not pornography, but it has a lot of sexual innuendoes.”
“It’s different things for different people,” first-year Chris Wells said. “Some people hate the movie and like the participation and some people really love the movie and like to enjoy the movie through audience participation.”
Indeed, many of the organizers themselves said they don’t like the movie at all without the audience participation.
“I hated the movie the first time I saw it,” said senior Ryan Taylor. “I didn’t enjoy it until my first time going to see it with an audience, and then it was really fun because you don’t take anything seriously. You’re just laughing, and cursing, and having a good time.”
Junior Susan Rahmsdorff agreed. “It’s so much more fun when you have the interaction with the movie. [Without the interaction, the movie] really, really sucks. It’s awful,” she said.
“It’s all about getting together and having a good time, but bringing down some norms-gender norms, sexual norms, just norms of what’s a good time,” Van Horn said. “It’s not your typical Friday night dance.”
All the organizers agreed that the event was a positive addition to Guilford.
“I came to college looking for lots of expressive, creative entertainment, and I feel like Rocky and things like Rocky give you such an unbelievable amount of freedom that they need to have it at Guilford,” said Van Horn.