Sweet Transvestite

Which musical was transformed into a movie that has been screening in theaters non-stop since 1975 and has a box office revenue of well over $140 million dollars?

Answer: The Rocky Horror Picture Show

It was fresher week in Manchester University when I was first introduced to The Rocky Horror Picture Show complete with live props and impromptu singing. My new English friends could not believe that I had never seen this show before and really "encouraged" me to watch it. I must say, my jaws must have dropped to the floor but the show was indeed an eye opener and I had never, ever seen anything like it in my life. And this was made in 1975, when Susan Sarandon is a young hot babe! It was a side of western culture that I had never even imagine existed, and yet once I saw it so many things about western culture clicked into place. Benny Hill, Monty Python, Black Adder, Mr. Bean, Little Britain, oh my!

For me, I'm comfortable enough in my sexuality that I can watch it for what it is, a fun and tongue firmly in cheek show that's meant to be laughed with and at. Just enjoy the ride and be entertained. My first impressions of Rocky Horror was that its quirky, wierd, strangely interesting, and that if my mum ever saw it, she would decry it as a prime example of depravity in western society and immediately suffer a heart attack.

Indeed, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a western world cultural icon that most Asians probably have never heard or even seen. Or, maybe not...




Anyway, with Glee's special "Rocky Horror" Halloween episode, I'm sure many young Asian kids will go out to the web and discover "RHPS" for themselves. I have to wonder, what would they make of it?

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