| Popis: |
This thesis explores and examines one text, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975) through the frameworks of three genres with which it engages: musical, science fiction, and horror. Based on a theoretical foundation of Rick Altman’s semantic/syntactic approach to genres and genre films, I consider how Rocky Horror fits into and/or resists inclusion in each genre. As Altman’s dual-focus approach makes possible, the film contains some semantic elements of each genre while overall resisting the syntactic narrative structures and formulas typical of any. However, through combining elements of a musical, science fiction, and horror film into one campy creation, Rocky Horror is able to use the elements associated with each genre toward its own purposes of social discourse. As part musical, part sci-fi, and part horror, it has many avenues through which to criticize the (American) culture of its production and release, including repressive heteropatriarchy, xenophobia, and technological anxiety. As a product of the early 1970s, it is actively engaged with the countercultural ideologies of its time, imagining and offering a view into a world where these real-world social concerns are exaggerated to the point of comedy. Although Rocky Horror ultimately does not fit into any one of the three genres I use as frameworks for analysis, indicating a need for more flexible approaches, its use of them to engage in cultural commentary also shows the importance of film and genre as a medium which responds to and reflects culture. |
