The Rocky Horror research moved forward substantially today – not in actual words written, but in how it needed to be shaped. It looks like I’ll be examining Frank N. Furter as a simulacrum of traditional gender roles. The nice thing is, I can apply the same analysis to the evolution of Brad and Janet over the course of the show. Preliminary research is showing that there are some musical ways to show this, above and beyond the recognized affectations of rock music vis-a-vis tonality as shown in the works of Walt Everett and others. I can still incorporate the “othering” aspect from queer theory, but I’m really thinking the simulacrum is the way to go.

It feels good to pull this back from the brink and salvage the research. The more stuff I can put out there, the better my tenure case.

WF

There may be more to this tomorrow, though tomorrow is an insanely long day and I don’t know if I’ll have time to update the blog. (I have been doing better lately!)

I’ve been working on some analyses of The Rocky Horror Show. I was originally going to do it through the prism of queer theory and the “othering” of the aliens vis-a-vis the humans, but it’s looking more and more like a Baudrillardian simulacrum might be the operative model. Of course, this is not new for me, as my work on Susannah used Baudrillard as well.

My fear is that, because I understand the Baudrillardian approach, I’ll try to shoehorn everything I analyze into that. So I ask you, Gentle Reader, to help me keep my focus.

More bulletins as events warrant.

WF