I'm typing this with heavy eyelids and a heart to match. I'm tired because I've had a busy week and I'm bummed because Tim Curry has died. Yes, I'm also bummed about Dolly Parton, but for this one, I'm focusing on Tim Curry.
My association with Tim is purely Rocky Horror. Rocky Horror all the way. Depending on your age and/or values, there are different characters with which you will associate Tim. Some will see Tim as the original Pennywise. For others, he will be Wadsworth from Clue. For me, it's Dr Frank'n'furter.
I had listened to the soundtrack of The Rocky Horror Picture Show many times before I actually saw the movie. I first saw the movie when I was fifteen. It was a midnight session. I was on my own. I was a country kid in Sydney. I was puzzled by the people in costume and the people carrying props. But most of all, I was blown away. When Frank threw off his cloak to reveal the corset, suspenders, and fishnets, I felt a frisson like nothing I had ever felt before, which heralded the strong crush on Tim Curry as Dr Frank I have harboured ever since that late evening in the December/January school holidays. I couldn't wait to get back home and regale my school friends with tales of the wild movie I had seen, the one with the song Time Warp. I couldn't wait to explain the patrons who had acted out the movie, including running between the aisles in their underwear. The guy next to me who put a newspaper over his head. The toast that was thrown during Rocky's birthday 'toast'. Whilst I felt blown away, I paradoxically felt like I belonged. I know that as a cishet woman, my sense of belonging is not as poignant as that felt by the young queer audience back in the Seventies, but as an oddball kid in the Eighties, I definitely felt a sense of belonging that night in the movie theatre.
Since that night, I have seen the movie countless times and enjoyed various stage productions. I once discontinued a fledgling romance with a guy who didn't like the show. We had gone to see a stage production, and when the actor playing Frank removed his cloak, my date looked at me and said, "I'm not going to comment." He made it clear he did not like the show and found it offensive. After some reflection, I added it to a list of the 'cons' to dating this person. I am aware it's important to respect other people's rights to their own opinions, but it was obvious this person's values were far misaligned from my own, so it was not going to work.
And of course, even with Tim's body still warm, there is the usual bleating about how problematic this show is. You know what? View everything from the Seventies through a contemporary lens and pretty much everything is going to be fucking problematic. Is Dr Frank a flawed representation of a trans person? Does he represent the offensive trope wherein non-hetero conforming personas are deviates and villains? People, he's a fucking ALIEN! He's a fucking ALIEN from another plan who happens to like wearing clothing traditionally associated with women, and one who happens to like sex with either men OR women. There's a lot to unpack here, so can we please stop making EVERYTHING a problem?
RIP, Tim. Thanks for the awakening.
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