The Unconventional Conventionalist： The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Heather Levy and Matthew Levy claim an interesting perspective of the spectatorship in The Rocky Horror Picture Show live performance， as they state that it reveals “opposition between viewer and viewed that continues to vex psychoanalytical models of film spectatorship”. The live performance is characterized by its active spectators， who can engage with the performance by “interrupting” the performance， as they can do things like shouting out loud and going on the stage.

The traditional Lacanian spectatorship theory claims that the spectator is demobilized when sitting in a dark room watching the film， because their gazes are passive and directed only at the action on the screen. The spectatorship， for the floor show for The Rocky Horror Picture Show， on the other hand， is active， as the screen does not monopolize the spectator’s gazes. Although the film is playing on the screen， the spectator can dominate his/her own gazes by either looking at the film on the screen or watching the shadowcast’s performance. “The live cast and crew of Rocky Horror compete with the screen for attention， actively enhancing their objectification and blurring the status of subject and object”. Among all the clips I watched on youtube for the live cast performance， I saw some spectators record the live cast performance. They zoom in and out in order to capture the live performance， shout and sing with the casts. Other spectators， however only record the film playing on the screen and “ignoring” the live cast， as the performance in the original film more attracts their attentions. Nevertheless， when I watched this film in class， my gaze is passively directed to the screen， and I cannot actively engage with the film like the spectators in the live show. Mulvey claims that the male spectator controls the gazes as a voyeur on female bodies， which are the center of the male gaze and are the “to-be-looked-at-ness”. The Rocky Horror Picture Show， however challenges this concept. “Male characters” are always in the center of the gazes whereas the heroin， Janet， is not the “to-be-looked-at-ness” even though she is almost naked throughout the film.