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Rocky Horror + Glee = ?

2010-10-25 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

Hank, a former Rocky Horror cast member, argues the objectively bad Rocky Horror Picture Show matters because of its audiences' participation, a pre-internet seed of today's user-generated culture, which is why Glee's version, keeping only the songs, bothers him.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Rocky Horror plot gag; Hank loves Rocky Horror but is ambivalent about Glee doing it; what he likes about it

  • ★★★ Hank says he loves Rocky Horror but is very ambivalent about Glee doing Rocky Horror, and that it isn't doing it for him or for a lot of people. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank likes that Rocky Horror will at least reach a new generation, and that Glee's Artie finally gets something non-awkward to do, since Rocky Horror has a wheelchair user. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — From a former cast member: Rocky Horror is objectively a terrible movie, yet it has had the longest theatrical release

  • ★★ Hank says he used to be in a Rocky Horror cast and really loves the show. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Hank admits the Rocky Horror Picture Show is objectively a very bad movie: terrible sets and dialogue, and most of its songs aren't very good, citing a mustard lyric. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Hank says Rocky Horror has had the longest theatrical release of any movie, so this terrible movie is in one respect the most successful movie of all time. — 00:00:58

00:01:30 — Its success is about the audience: midnight screenings, props and replaced lines as user-generated content decades before the internet; parallel to vlogbrothers and YouTube

  • ★★★ Hank says Rocky Horror's success can't rest on its good points (absurdity, an amazing Tim Curry); it is a big deal because of the people who watch it. — 00:01:30
  • ★★★ Hank tells John this matters to him because what the brothers do likewise has little to do with them and is a big deal because of the people doing it with them. — 00:01:30 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ Hank says at midnight screenings the wall between audience and movie fell to user-generated content: props thrown at the screen, lines replaced with funnier, more vulgar ones, spreading virally. — 00:01:59
  • ★★★ Hank says Rocky Horror's cult rise embodies things credited to the internet, two-way content and creating on others' work, a desire strong enough to find outlets decades before the internet. (hedged) — 00:01:59
  • ★★★ Hank says now, especially on YouTube, that experience seems normal, so it is hard to see Rocky Horror for what it is: the seed of a cultural revolution. — 00:02:28 · YouTube

00:02:57 — Why Glee bothers him: it will keep only the songs and lose the absurdity and the experience; Hank's own Rocky cast past; guess his role; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says what probably bothers him is that Glee will drop the absurdity, the alien stuff and the experience built by many thousands of audiences worldwide, and just sing songs that won't change your life. (hedged) — 00:02:57
  • ★★ Hank says the Rocky Horror culture was something he was once part of and once needed, because YouTube didn't exist yet. — 00:03:26 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank says points go to commenters who correctly guess which role he played in his Rocky cast, and he looks forward to the guesses. (playful) — 00:03:26

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says nearly every song on Glee is autotuned, which Hank finds extremely annoying since the cast can sing. — video description
  • ★★ Hank says the audience became part of the movie for him: he can no longer hear the actual song lines, only the audience callbacks. — video description
  • ★★ Hank urges viewers over 18 to find a Rocky Horror showing in their area: it may be awkward or confusing, but it will be an experience. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Glee · participatory culture · The Rocky Horror Picture Show · user-generated content

Also: Artie Abrams · Tim Curry · YouTube

Only in the description or credits: Auto-Tune

Also centred on participatory culture: You Are Here · YouTube Says This Video Has 683,183 Views, It Actually Has 312,584

Also centred on user-generated content: How The Internet Is Rigged

Later videos replying to this one