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From: boyajian@akov68.DEC
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: re: ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
Message-ID: <2565@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Jun-85 03:29:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.2565
Posted: Sat Jun  8 03:29:15 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Jun-85 20:47:56 EDT
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> From:	topaz!lear	(eliot lear)

>> RHPS was sheer delight as a film
>> until it was destroyed by the audience participation.
>> 		-- SKZB
>
>	It has been the audience that has kept RHPS alive all these years!
> If it were not for the audience, Rocky would have gone in and out of the
> movie theatres just like any ordinary movie. The movie itself is not that
> funny - It's the audience that makes me laugh. However, if you do not like
> the audience participation, try renting a VCR tape and seeing it home. That
> way no one can spoil your movie.


> From:	warwick!asz

> Actually it was a stage play first (presumably with audience participation).
> Perhaps you're in the wrong generation to enjoy the sheer brilliance of
> RHPS (:-)), which would NOT be the same without audience participation - it is
> essential to the whole ethos to have tthe participation.

Give me a break. Are you trying to teach your grandpappy how to
suck eggs?

(1) For a good many of us who had seen RHPS *many* times over the
course of three or so years without the audience participation (a.p.),
the movie is a delight all on its lonesome. The a.p. is hardly
"essential". Maybe it's preferential for you, but not for everyone.
The a.p. was funny and enjoyable for the first few times, but after
a while it got very annoying. There are those of us who like the
*movie*, and would rather see *it* than the audience. I haven't see
RHPS in, oh, probably 5-6 years precisely *because* of the annoyance
of the audience. The a.p. is not the be all and the end all of the
movie. The movie existed without it before, and it can do so again.

(2) It's debatable whether or not RHPS would have become a cult
film without the a.p. Other cult films, HAROLD AND MAUDE and KING OF
HEARTS to name two, certainly don't require a.p. And it seems to me
that the a.p. started *after* RHPS acheived cult status.

(3) RHPS did indeed start out as a stage play, but *without* a.p.
The movie was first released in late 1975, and the a.p. didn't get
into full swing until 1979 or so.

(3) As for renting a videotape, I wish I *could*. But, contrary to
popular belief, RHPS has *not* yet been released on tape (in the US,
at least). And it's probably because 20th Century Fox is afraid that
it will cut into the theater rentals, thus it's quite likely that
the a.p. is *preventing* Steven and I from enjoying the movie in
the privacy of our homes.

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, Maynard, MA)

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