A Rocky Horror Freely Essay Research Paper

A Rocky Horror Freely Essay, Research Paper

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, an instant cult classic from the 70’s. Documenting a “Sweet Transvestite’s” longing for the perfect lover, with no strings attached. Genetic Engineering along with lighting, a dark castle, and a few unorthodox love scenes made a few laugh, a few cry, and left many disgusted. Yet just how many sweet transvestites could there be in the world; certainly Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World’s idealized social and sexual interaction could have influenced this Transelvanian utopia, however odd it may seem. Also, the more we document the differences between Huxley’s creation and our world, be it in entertainment or real life the more similarities stand out. In regards to social interaction Huxley’s ideas coincide with present day existence, the explanations of physical lust, love, pure emotion, and scientific research that enhances and hinders all of these, best describe our society in media and real life.

One of humankinds’ most unique emotions, sympathy, is rarely shown in Huxley’s world. It seems that in this present day and age people are far less concerned with the well being of others. Death, the end of life as we know it concerns many when it pertains to them, however compassion is rarely given to the thousands who die daily. Unlike the ancient Egyptians who regard the dead with reverence, going as far as to preserve a body.

“To prepare the deceased for the afterlife during pharaonic times, funerary workers removed most internal organs, then sterilized the body and dried it by packing it-inside and out-with natron salts. About 40 days later the body was wrapped in linen stripes, placed in a series of wooden cases and an outer stone coffin, and laid in a crypt. The body faced east to greet the rising sun in symbolic rebirth.” {Webster 80}

In Brave New World the idea of death is of no interest, a distinctly far cry from the Egyptians careful packaging of a mere body, in fact it seems more of a curiosity than a doomed fate.

“A sudden noise of shrill voices made him open his eyes and, after hastily brushing away his tears, look round. What seemed an interminable stream of identical eight-year old male twins was pouring into the room. Twin after twin, twin after twin, they came–a nightmare. Their faces, their repeated face–for there was only one between the lot of them–puggishly stared, all nostrils and pale goggling eyes. Their uniform was khaki. All their mouths hung open. Squealing and chattering they entered. In a moment, it seemed, the ward was maggoty with them. They swarmed between the beds, clambered over, crawled under, peeped into the television boxes, made faces at the patients.” {Huxley 207}

This lack of feeling regarding death is by far one of the most outlandish ideas in the novel, but is our world all that different. After the Heaven’s gate mass suicide 39 religious followers were subjected to the harshest discrimination any group could endure, but these people could not defend themselves. In there final resting places they were photographed and displayed throughout the world as oddities, such as Linda dying in front of a group of youngsters. Shrouded by a triangular purple cloth, dressed alike, and carrying similar items{Miller} they were dismissed as another subject for comic relief. Many magazines interviewed Rio DiAngelo an ex-member of the cult, describing him as, “…the last insider; the survivor who knows what really happened in the weird world of Heaven’s gate.” {Miller 29}. Perhaps our questioning is more like the children in the hospital than we think, as the youths depart they exclaim, “Isn’t she awful.” {Huxley207}, regarding the Savage’s dying mother. Are our insults and childish taunts really that different from the adolescents in Brave New World when considering the death of human beings, these feelings about our demise show complete lack of emotion, and this is not the only place where lack of feeling is prevalent.

Marriage, a foreign word in the society that Lenina and Richard Marx live in, but would they have married in our world. They had no true love, but who needs love in this day and age to get married. After becoming intimate Lenina could have become pregnant, after all she was fertile. Not uncommon to our society, people are forced to marry after a pregnancy. Love is never a factor in Brave New World and that mentality is making itself known in our world today. However, the fact remains that without love there is a void in every one of us, attempts to fulfill that space with several sexual partners{Dixon} often leaves us feeling worthless. Many people in our society have now adopted the attitude of Huxley’s characters, ‘Love them and Leave them’. Yet some people in Brave New World do show weakness, Richard Marx feels a need for Lenina, as Lenina feels a need for John the Savage.

“This need to be valued, affirmed, cared for and understood appears on the day of birth and remains until the day of death. It is therefore a more constant drive than sex alone, yet often muddled with it. This search for love can drive some people to have more sexual partners but a far greater number have less…” {Dixon 3}

This ‘drive’ is what makes Lenina need John. Her idea of love is sex, therefore to show her love and adoration for John she proposes sex. John is far more conservative; he has been trained to view monogamy as the