Amy Chiswell discusses The Rocky Horror Picture Show‘s impact on the LGBTQIA+ community, and why the iconic musical doesn’t deserve to be torn apart every Halloween.
WORDS BY AMY CHISWELL Twice I have shown The Rocky Horror Picture Show to men and they’ve been reduced to tears.
The soft wiping of eyes usually starts when Tim Curry sings ‘Don’t Dream It, Be It’. I cried the first time I saw it, too. I first watched Rocky Horror on the day after Halloween, feeling a bit fragile from the night before.
As soon as the credits began to roll, I went back to the beginning and started it again. The film has such a raw emotional and visual power that even those of us born 20 years or more after it was released are often shocked by how radical it is.