Rocky Horror Picture Show

Glitter. Fishnets. Stilettos. Eye Liner. Corsets. Sex. All the makings of a cabaret or burlesque musical. However, this particular musical is atypical and thrives on the strange and bizarre. I am talking about the cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It has all the makings of a movie musical with elaborate song and dance routines, the element of a fantastical other world, and costumes to die for. The plot of the film revolves around fetish and sexual ambiguity. It represents a subversion of cultural norms and acts as a critique on gender from a psychoanalytical standpoint.
It has been argued by feminist critics that women are represented on film to satisfy male viewers. Traditional cinema works within a larger patriarchal culture where men are the subject and women are the object (Myrick & Robbins 269). In response to the threat of castration, the male viewer identifies woman as guilty, and thus views her with a sadistic voyeurism. Female subjectivity is denied all together and she is turned into a fetishized object. Rocky Horror turns this structure on its head.
When the viewer first sees the transgender scientist, Frank N. Furter, it is from the feet upwards as he descends on an elevator.


That particular pan of the camera is typical of shooting a female. With his heels, elaborate make up, and muscular physique he is both masculine and feminine. According to critics Robbins and Myrick, “He is sexually powerful because he is able to experience, and encourages others to experience, the absolute pleasure of reveling in the spectacle (274). He does not adhere to culturally determined gender positions. He acts as a mother to his creation Rocky, a sexual outlaw to Brad and Janet, and lusts after Rocky’s masculinity as much as he does Faye Raye’s sensual frame. Throughout the film Frank N Furter is shot as a female and male. He is the ultimate physical representation of gender critique.