#substitute romance or fantasy or horror or whatever you like

[anneapocalypse]

I don't think there's anything wrong with being a person who just drops fic on AO3 and vanishes if engagement isn't something you care about. Maybe you just wrote something fun and wanted to put it out there and disappear and that's fine. However, if engagement and connection is something you care about, then it becomes a two-way street and you generally do need to put some effort in the other way.

And if your response to that is "well I don't really like reading fanfic though," then I ask, genuinely: why is this the medium you've chosen to write in, then? If you don't like fanfic then why are you writing fanfic? Maybe you'd be happier writing original work in a genre that you do read and enjoy, and seeking an audience there, whether it's through seeking publication or self-publishing or joining a local or online writing group.

I think that in general, if you don't enjoy reading something then writing in that form or genre is maybe not the avenue where you are going to find the most success and enjoyment. If you're having a great time and are happy with the level of engagement you're getting then by all means ignore me! But if you are not happy and wish you were making more connections with your writing, I think it's worth considering whether the community you've chosen as your audience is one you are motivated to connect with.

[edith-moonshadow]

Harringrove black mirror episode uss callister au. billy copies the minds of people who wrong him in the real world and make them do whatever he wants all while trapped in the world of his favorite 80s fantasy tv show.

Spoilers for Black Mirror: USS Callister (2017)

Hi, I really enjoyed this episode of Black Mirror, it’s dark but with a happy ending (well for most of the characters) and I’m a huge Star Trek nerd (especially the original series Star Trek) so it was fun on many levels. I like the idea of a Billy who copies people who have wronged him in the real world and then he can do whatever he wants to them in his own little world. And with this concept, you can explore so much whether it’s Billy centric or Harringrove. Thinking about the episode I can imagine him treating it like his own personal therapy, and for fans of Billy too, I think everyone wants to see Neil punished in some way as in canon it feels like he got to walk away Scott free, almost like he was a footnote that the writers used for one scene to explain something then forgot about 🤔🤔🤔

So I’m just going to use Star Trek here but you can substitute it with any fantasy show you want for example Quantum Leap (1989-1994) fun for history buffs and Billy making people be a different person each time, maybe he could decide whether he wants to save them or he could force Steve to be Sam and Billy is Al. Making Billy the only real person Steve can interact with.

Or go a little crazy with something like Knightrider(1982-1986) I can’t help thinking that Billy would be Michael and he’d force Steve to be KITT, Beauty and the Beast (1987-1993) you could play this either way but maybe Billy as Vincent and Steve as Catherine (part therapy part romance), Manimal (1983) Billy turning into animals to help the police solve crimes or like a horror anthology series like Tales From The Crypt, Tales From The Darkside or Monsters where he forces his enemies to live through horrific stories where they get punished. This might be getting into crackfic territory but what was 1980’s fantasy television if not a crackfic? The ‘80s was a weird time 💁🏼‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️

Billy was obsessed with Star Trek when he was younger, he used to watch reruns with his parents every week before things got too bad between them but once his mom left he found it hard to watch. Filled with too many painful memories.

Then in the 80’s it gets a reboot of sorts and he ends up watching it, even though he would never admit it to anyone and it feels familiar but different. He starts to dream about a utopian society where everything would have order and meaning, he would be a member of Starfleet going on adventures and discovering new worlds. Thus fantasy becomes even more important when his dad marries Susan and he's expected to fall in line so they can be a perfect family.

Billy loses himself in Star Trek but he also works hard in school so that one day he can finally escape his real-life nightmare.

He excels at computers and especially coding and finally develops the Enterprise, a revolutionary new VR game that will change everything, all he needs is the capital. Through connections at college, he's introduced to a bunch of rich kids who have no ideas of their own all they have is their inherited wealth and connections. Billy remains engrossed in his code but he can’t help being fascinated by Steve Harrington even though he is a stuck up rich kid who looks down on him and they go into business together and with Steve’s connections they become a great success.

Steve is the face of the business, he is charming and friendly to everyone but still mostly ignores Billy who he treats mostly like another employee. Billy wants so much more from their relationship, not just romantic but to also be treated like an equal as without him there would be no business. They spar regularly as Billy wants his code to be perfect and Steve is only interested in making money.

After a particularly explosive fight between them Billy can’t help feeling out of control, what if things were different and that their roles were reversed, if Steve had to recognise his contribution and treat him as an equal, he becomes fixated on the idea and in his spare time he develops code to create a world of his own, one where he would be in complete control. He also researches DNA and figures out how to replicate someone perfectly in his make-believe world.

Once these are both complete he waits for the perfect opportunity to steal Steve’s DNA, sneaking into his office to steal a coffee cup. He set up the programme to run and waited with bated breath for it to complete. It isn’t complete by that night and he goes into work with it weighing heavily on his mind. He can’t help paying extra attention to Steve that day, feeding his imagination, every time he’s ignored or he sees him spending time with other people in the way that he doesn’t with Billy, he thinks about when he’ll get home and have his own world.

When he gets home he is filled with excitement, almost sick with it as it churns in his stomach, he boots up the game, he’s modelled it after the enterprise but this version will be offline, a space for him only, he has designed his costume after that of a Starfleet captain and when he enters the bridge he finds a confused and angry Steve Harrington as his first officer. Billy is in complete control of everything, he is essentially God but Steve has retained his personality and memories and still treats him like he’s better than him. It takes a long time for Billy to subdue Steve but finally, he learns how to bend him to his will and it makes his experiences with the real Steve a little easier to bear. However, Steve’s attitude towards him has bled out to the other employees and soon he’s stealing other people’s DNA and putting them through the same thing.

Then something changes in the real world. Maybe a new person starts and they capture Steve’s eye or they have to work a little closer on a project together and Billy realises that his frustration towards Steve runs so deep because of how deeply he’s fallen for him but he knows that Steve will never reciprocate. Maybe after this time, he starts becoming more amorous towards the fake Steve, maybe plays out some old fantasy style tropes where Steve is in danger and the only one who can save him is Billy through his genius.

Could have Steve and Billy after this time grow closer, they spend more time together even after the project and Steve apologises, he was just trying to impress his dad with his great business skills and be more like him so that maybe he’d finally show him some respect but after successfully setting up this business with Billy he doesn’t want to be that way, it’s not who he is. He could finally acknowledge Billy’s contributions and promise to be better and to his shock he is and because of how much everyone loves Steve they start to treat Billy differently.

As he and Steve grow closer Billy becomes conflicted about the online world he’s created, there he has moulded Steve into what he wants but what if he could have it in real life, something real and tangible, can he let go of the fantasy for a slim chance at it being a reality? How would Steve react if he ever found out the truth?

You could also have something like Billy running it as a date like simulation for Steve. So he’s obsessed with him in reality but can’t get Steve to pay attention but he has a copy of Steve that he can date over and over until he figures out the best way to approach real Steve. Also side note Nanette Cole gave me strong Steve vibes, her hair, big does eyes, brave, loyal and willing to tell Daly where to go (plus Steve in her Starfleet uniform, no just me?) 💁🏼‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️💁🏼‍♀️

You could also treat this as a story that works as a character exploration of Billy, so you could set it during canon for example and it’s not a big game available to anyone it’s just Billy who is a computer genius on his home computer (could stay in the 80’s even though DNA technology wouldn’t be anywhere near proficient but it’s a story so you can do whatever you want, time and reality has no meaning), he has no control in his everyday life due to his dad’s abuse so anyone who wrongs him or who he just wants some control over he steals their DNA and places them in his own universe where he is essentially God, he can explore anything he wants, he can be mean or nice, he can kill and bring them back, it helps him feel that semblance of control missing in his life and the possibilities of how he is in this story are endless.

With that in mind, it’s a story that can be bittersweet, dark, a fun adventure type story (you could introduce elements from Star Trek, like the holodeck so really Billy and whoever he’s with can go on lots of mini-adventures within this one story), really you can do anything you like 💜💜💜

[brooklynislandgirl]

🔥 + dreams

Flickerflash || Accepting

It always begins in darkness. And in darkness must things return. The part that scares her the most is what lives in the primordial inky texture. Her heart pounds in her chest. Her lungs seize trying to drag down one more breath. Every last muscle becomes paralysed and she is unable to move. Nails brush against her skin mid-clawing before her fingers lock up. Stillness is death. She can do nothing to stop this. The way black shifts on black, merges and bubbles, a terrible mimicry of life. Then it begins to coalesce int a shape. Legs like trees, heavy shadow at their apex. A chest like a canyon wall so large she cannot see the top. Thick, corded arms with fingers that end in knife blades. They drag up her legs, not biting deep enough to draw blood and when they stop, just below her belly? She floods with terror and desire. Equal parts shame and horror. The Void in humanesque form laughs at this and sends the very vibrations through her bones. Chills her with the feeling of oblivion. Onward those fingers move. Now leaving a red trail through the valley between her breasts. They will stop again at her throat. They will bite and deeply at that. Beth screams.

"Piccola?" Even in the sliver of moonlight, her eyes gleam with the haze of need and dread when she finally finds her husband's aphotic gaze.

~*~

He cups her jaw in his hands, thumbs brushing gently over the arches of her cheek bones. Then gently caress her lower lip once he's teased it free of her teeth. Her lashes drift shut and she tilts her head upward and for a moment she thinks he might just indulge her in a kiss. Perhaps curious if she does taste like cinnamon or if it's just an illusion. He doesn't. Instead she can feel him move. Bare feet soundless on the polished wood floor of his loft. There's a whisper of his pyjama bottoms, black and silk, bespoke tailored to his long legs. Even with the nocturne playing in the background ~Chopin?~ she can hear that if not his breath. She stands stock still. Hands clasped at the hem of the slip-dress she's wearing. He stops behind her and an eternity passes before she can feel one hand gather her hair in its grasp. The backs of his fingers caress the space between her neck and her shoulder before dipping lower. Tracing her collar bones.

She is achingly aware of how close in proximity he is. How his hands could sculpt her any way he wished and she would welcome it. How easily he could scoop her up and carry her to his bed or maybe not even that far. He has a table and he could press her flat- "Riley?" Stephen? She doesn't know if she says this aloud or if it's only her voice inside her head. "Riley, wake up. Surgical Consult in Curtain Five, and they've been hollering for-" "W-where's Stephen?" "Doctor Strange? Naw, he went home hours ago. Said unless they pronounced you, don't call him. So if this conversation isn't a weird Lazarus Reflex...ass up and moving."

As an on-call resident, Beth is lucky to get two full hours of sleep at night. She spends them with him.

~*~

It's the strangest thing. She's been asleep for hours. Curled up beside him, only tossing and turning to burrow deeper under the covers, to steal away whatever warmth he can put out. But Luka wakes to the sound of... laughter. Soft, to be sure, barely audible. But extremely noticeable when the only other person who can make a sound at quite that pitch is nine years old, and away with her uncles. So the sound isn't coming from Maria. A minute or two later and it's actual words. "Lu'a, stop." Then that giggle again as she stretches languorously in midst of the dream she is having. "...or....don't. There. Yes. There. Just like that." Abruptly the conversation stops and is replaced by a lush sound so decadent it should put the living man to shame. Her back arches against the mattress and she rises and falls like a wave. Her breath quickens, her hands fist into the sheets and twists them away, leaving her bare skin on display. A full body writhe and a new sound emerges, this one sharper. Needier somehow, edged with the lust that even in waking romances isn't seen often. And then she giggles again. Reaches out in empty air as if searching. ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ It is perhaps when Beth is asleep that she is the most comfortable in her power as a woman, and in her own sexuality. In different verses {as seen above}, these dreams manifest in a myriad of ways. From terrifying and primitive ~interconnected with her night terrors and sleep paralysis~ which shrieks to the primordial avatar of her soul, to the almost innocent fantasies of a young woman who has caught feelings for her mentor but still can't cross the line from flirtatious to overtly sexual, to even the ones that come with full dialogue and stage directions {and the very odd for anyone listening conversations}. These dreams perhaps in many ways substitute and subvert her waking desires. Here, she is safe. Here there can be no judgement, no disgust, no guilt or shame. In dreams, Beth can be a normal person. In dreams, no one abandons her. No one hurts her. No one makes her feel undeserving. And they always fade from mind when she wakes up, because dreams are, if anything, not real.

[mountainashfae]

rowan, aelin, harmon, mialee, max!

well dang this’ll be a long one, lemme toss it under a cut lmfao

So much time went into all this asdgfhuykm

I legit spent several hours doing this

[ OC Meme ]

Full Name: Rowan ThornbrookGender and Sexuality: Male, demiromantic asexualPronouns: he/himEthnicity/Species: half-elf (drow)Birthplace and Birthdate: (equivalent of) October 19, Capitol city of RiverinGuilty Pleasures: late night forest walks, baking fruit desserts (only guilty if the fruits he’s baking with are out of season), sleeping inPhobias: dusty, enclosed spaces (think crypt), being inside a burning building, he’s also got a healthy dose of fear and anxiety over talking in social situations What They Would Be Famous For: Baking Skills, or, ya know, becoming king of RiverinWhat They Would Get Arrested For: being involved with a barfight (bc trying to stop it)OC You Ship Them With: not mine but SOLOMON WITHERSPOONOC Most Likely To Murder Them: uhhh good question none of mineFavorite Movie/Book Genre: does cooking count? No? He’s a fan of realistic fiction.Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: the one where the animal companion dies/gets left behindTalents and/or Powers: he can bake, sew, farm a bit, and is skilled with the sword and shieldWhy Someone Might Love Them: He cares for the wellbeing of pretty much everyone he meets and is just overall a sweet guy also have you tasted his peach tarts??Why Someone Might Hate Them: He can be a spoil-sport and is Lawful and also boiled peanuts apparently.How They Change: Rowan so far in canon started out being a bit stiff and felt like he was weighted by expectations put on him, but through meeting Nazha and then later the rest of the party he’s begun to feel like that weight wasn’t quite so heavy and has been able to truly open up and enjoy life without those expectations and also the judgement of him being half-elfWhy You Love Them: Rowan is that character that I have projected so much on to the point that he’s basically my namesake and just working on character development for him, in character and out of character, brings me such joy. He’s also in a way the reason I have such great friends. Also??? Weather and crop based expletive substitutions and phrases.

Full Name: Aelin ThornbrookGender and Sexuality: Female, pansexualPronouns: she/herEthnicity/Species: half-elf (drow)Birthplace and Birthdate: (equivalent of) August 8, Capitol city of RiverinGuilty Pleasures: the occasional glass of wine, sleeping in (but hours longer than her brother), spending hours playing the flute and ignoring responsibilities, skinny dipping at midnightPhobias: getting lost, losing track of time (both things that happen often), losing the last reminder of his family that she ownsWhat They Would Be Famous For: Her skill in divination, solving the mystery of the group of bandits who assassinated her family!!What They Would Get Arrested For: Probably getting drunk and flirting/getting involved with somebody she shouldn’t and making some sort of skirmish happenOC You Ship Them With: No one currentyOC Most Likely To Murder Them: Any of those faux loversFavorite Movie/Book Genre: MysteryLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: any seemingly forced hetero romance. Make it seem natural at leastTalents and/or Powers: divination and drow magic, fluteplayingWhy Someone Might Love Them: She’s an extrovert and tries to get along with most people, is really honest and will help just about anybody. Also she’s such a beauty.Why Someone Might Hate Them: She’s flirtatious at times but has also never been serious about a relationship n her life. Rather nonchalant about everything and never seems serious everHow They Change: She needs some actual character devWhy You Love Them: She’s the opposite of Rowan, and where the rest of my projecting went that didn’t go to him. I can’t really put the reason into words but it’s a strong feeling.

Full Name: Harmon AveryGender and Sexuality: demigirl, probably graysexualPronouns: they/sheEthnicity/Species: Halfling!!! (lightfoot)Birthplace and Birthdate: idfk about where but it’d be whatever the equivalent of December 5th is.Guilty Pleasures: straight up eating a raw lemonPhobias: heights, being late, missing out on any information, important or notWhat They Would Be Famous For: probably something to do with juice-making or for being a halfling with a large pet snakeWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Sneaking said snake into someplace he’s not allowed, or maybe stealing citrusOC You Ship Them With: nobody currentlyOC Most Likely To Murder Them: -shrug bc no character dev-Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Murder MysteryLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: that “it was the servant all along” cliche. It ruins the mysteryTalents and/or Powers: Ranger magic, skill with a bow, extremely good with snakes, can EAT A LEMON RAWWhy Someone Might Love Them: They’re small and share their juice and citrus with people, they have a snakeWhy Someone Might Hate Them: They have a snake, they’re extremely impatient, and they have no problem giving you the sourest juice possibleHow They Change: gotta get some character dev firstWhy You Love Them: They’re a character that I literally got the idea from in a dream, what else could I say other than they are literally the Halfing of my dreams?

I had to do about 90% of the base character dev right here and there is a LOT more to do. Harmon is still In Development

Full Name: Cauder Mel Toraviel Mialee (Mialee Toraviel)Gender and Sexuality: nonbinary, and idk? Let’s say pan until we know for surePronouns: they/themEthnicity/Species: Sun Elf/Cunning Hob mix!Birthplace and Birthdate: uhhhh no exact town name at the moment but they were in the southwest of Mitria on the equivalent of October 27thGuilty Pleasures: expensive foods, especially chocolates, buying anything expensive for themself tbh (they dont hang on to money long), not having to hide their tail in their clothingPhobias: GETTING CAUGHT IN A LIEWhat They Would Be Famous For: Their illusions and skillWhat They Would Get Arrested For: Their illusions and skill, also all the cons they pull with said illusions and skillsOC You Ship Them With: I platonically sibling ship them with Kit because those two have the best sibling dynamicOC Most Likely To Murder Them: Any of the people they have conned in the past because Mia made off great and bouncedFavorite Movie/Book Genre: Does mythology count? Because they love mythology. Also any nonfiction text on magic, mostly for inspiration purposesLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: are there any cliches in mythology and magic texts? Other than inaccuracies I guessTalents and/or Powers: Favored Soul sorcery, lotsa skill in illusions and disguises, pretty good as improvWhy Someone Might Love Them: They’re a real stinker but in a good way if you’re not on their bad side and they love to show off their skills for others and they adore childrenWhy Someone Might Hate Them: If they see you as an audience they will literally lie to your face to get what they want and feel no remorse. Is that their actual face? Their actual name and class?? Who knows!How They Change: Mialee “Master of Hiding Literally Everything About Myself” Toraviel opened up to a Partner in Crime aka new adoptive brother and a sassmaster sorcerer hob and loves them very much whether they realize it or notWhy You Love Them: They’re such a fun and different character to play compared to Rowan, and everything about them makes me smile. I get to play around with aspects of their hob heritage with Theo and it’s so fun to do and to learn about hobs. I get to do everything that I love about D&D through them.

Full Name: Maxwell FuntGender and Sexuality: Male, aroacePronouns: he/himEthnicity/Species: Human, I wrote Illuskan on his character sheet but idfk what that translates toBirthplace and Birthdate: equivalent of August 30, in a small town called Rodan which got burned to the groundGuilty Pleasures: stealing shoes that are loaned to him, actually getting a lead on that fey artifact he’s supposed to be looking for!!Phobias: dragons, the mere thought of being enslaved again, most heavily social situations, loud yelling (especially aimed at him)What They Would Be Famous For: busting up that one slave caravan?? idk my dude he doesn’t like the spotlightWhat They Would Get Arrested For: breaking into some building to check out a fey artifact because it might be the one he’s looking forOC You Ship Them With: nobody my dude he’s not interestedOC Most Likely To Murder Them: those guys in the slave caravan who he blastedFavorite Movie/Book Genre: He seems like he’d be the horror kinda kid but no, he likes fantasy and refuses to finish a book if he suspects a bad endingLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Any kind where a main/well-liked character diesTalents and/or Powers: Pact of the Chain Warlock with an Archfey patron, newly acquired roller skating skillWhy Someone Might Love Them: He’s got some sass and he’s surprisingly still in excitable kid on the inside. That part of him is pretty cute when it comes out.Why Someone Might Hate Them: He just, Doesn’t Like People and will admit to trusting his fey weasel more than any one person. He also doesn’t like conflict and will scoot if possibleHow They Change: Max “I trust the Fey more than I trust any person or god” Funt has begun to trust others and is acting more like the child he still is. Don’t get me wrong he’s still irreparably scarred but bits of what can is healingWhy You Love Them:Max was conceptualized on the same day as Rowan in the same way (aka random generators), so he’s got a special place in my heart from that. It’s also the characters that have the worst backstories that I end up loving the most, partially because I’ve ruined their lives enough in backstory and it’s my job now to give them nothing but good. Also that Dunks Meta of the experiment sessions just being our Dunks characters playing D&D makes his concept so much more fun. Because that means Rowan is playing this boy.

[plushievash]

shufen and malai and dusan!!

Full Name: Shufen LiGender and Sexuality: cis girl || biPronouns: she/herEthnicity/Species: chinese || mutantBirthplace and Birthdate: china(?) || ??/??/99Guilty Pleasures: devouring an Entire Box of strawberriesPhobias: failureWhat They Would Be Famous For: strawbebbie girl;; but rly probably for paranormal hunting or building complex robotsWhat They Would Get Arrested For: theftOC You Ship Them With: malai!OC Most Likely To Murder Them: anyone from i serpentiFavorite Movie/Book Genre: documentary/thriller/horror/fantasyLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: (war)historyTalents and/or Powers: can see and speak to ghostsWhy Someone Might Love Them: shes nice and funny and caring;; she likes to share food and play video games with peopleWhy Someone Might Hate Them: most likely misunderstanding herHow They Change: she goes from quiet timid and obedient to happy open and doing whatever she wantsWhy You Love Them: her design is cute...and she has my love for the paranormal vintage things and building...i just think shes neat

Full Name: MalaiGender and Sexuality: transgirl || lesbianPronouns: she/herEthnicity/Species: vietnamese || mutantBirthplace and Birthdate: undecided || ??/??/99Guilty Pleasures: she cannot resist chocolate..........Phobias: shes generally paranoid....she doesnt like the idea of people knowing too much about herWhat They Would Be Famous For: she hopes not to be famous for anything;; but if she were to be famous itd probably be for having a huge extravagant garden that is extremely well maintainedWhat They Would Get Arrested For: most likely activism related crimeOC You Ship Them With: shufen!OC Most Likely To Murder Them: anyone from i serpentiFavorite Movie/Book Genre: romance/fantasyLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: slasher/horrorTalents and/or Powers: shes very good at keeping her secrets and keeping plants aliveWhy Someone Might Love Them: shes very kind and respectful and you can tell she tries her bestWhy Someone Might Hate Them: it would also most likely be misunderstanding herHow They Change: she becomes a little happier and a little less secretive;; she still values her privacy shes just more trustingWhy You Love Them: i think her design is cute and she has my love for flowers and gardening! she can be kinda awkward but she does her best

Full Name: 52366 || Dušan HajekGender and Sexuality: agender boy || gayPronouns: he/himEthnicity/Species: vietnamese/japanese || mutantBirthplace and Birthdate: italy || unknown [1/11/98 as substitute]Guilty Pleasures: ?Phobias: people in general || abandonmentWhat They Would Be Famous For: being an AssholeWhat They Would Get Arrested For: being an AssholeOC You Ship Them With: noneOC Most Likely To Murder Them: honestly probably anyone if he pushed them far enoughFavorite Movie/Book Genre: horror/romance/dramaLeast Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: actionTalents and/or Powers: talented singerWhy Someone Might Love Them: can be extremely nice once you grow on himWhy Someone Might Hate Them: being an AssholeHow They Change: being less of an AssholeWhy You Love Them: hes an asshole and also hes cute

[ismael37olson]

It Was Great When It All Began

What does a theatre company owe to our art form, and to the people who love our art form? Thoughtfulness and artistry. Those of us making theatre, those of us given the great honor of being the storytellers, we all need to respect the material, and not impose our own agenda upon it. I've seen so many productions that "bring something new" to an already brilliant show by misunder­standing and short-circuiting what the show is really about, and imposing upon it a nonsensical period, setting, or other High Concepts Por ejemplo... Rocky Horror has to be set in the early 1970s because it's really specifically about how Americans reacted to the Sexual Revolution of the late 60s and 70s. Tommy has to be set in post-World War II London, because it's really specifically about Western Civilization finding itself spiritually lost after the war, while drowning in postwar conspicuous consumption. When you change the setting of these stories, either explicitly or through set and costume design (the biggest warning sign is the random use of Steampunk), you betray the work, its authors, your audience, and our art form. We may see resonance in The Rocky Horror Show for our own times, but the more specifically it lives in the seventies, the easier it can serve as a metaphor for today, allowing us to stand back from our own times and see them objectively. Frank is presented as a glam rock star because that was the only period of rock and roll during which gender was both fluid and irrelevant (the same reason Hedwig, of The Angry Inch fame, finds her home in that subgenre). The dissolution of gender roles was one of the things straight America feared the most during the Sexual Revolution. Frank’s lack of clear gender is his real monstrosity, which is why it’s always a mistake for productions to re-imagine Frank as anything other than a glam rocker. It's not just about drag; it's about gender in our culture. To take the seventies and its issues out of Rocky Horror both emasculates it and short-circuits its social satire. No one working on the 2000 Broadway revival seemed to notice that the leather and S&M themes in the costumes went exactly opposite to O’Brien’s original intentions of innocent, campy, goofy sexuality. Rocky Horror is not soft porn; it’s a satiric cartoon of sexuality at a particularly clumsy time and place in American history. But director Christopher Ashley and his designers didn’t understand that. Only the Wall Street Journal could still see Rocky’s smarts behind all the distractions, and its reviewer Amy Gamerman wrote, “The carnival atmosphere of The Rocky Horror Show is so enveloping that it takes awhile before you notice how clever the show itself is – a smartly calibrated blend of salty, sweet and sarcastic, with its pierced tongue lodged firmly in its cheek.”

Rocky is a brilliant, insightful social document, and the directors and actors who don't get that are missing everything that's really wonderful about the show. After all, modern-day Puritans weren’t the only ones who thought the Sexual Revolution was a bad thing. Others disliked it because they felt this new movement took all the mystery and magic – and most important, the romance – out of sex. In Rocky Horror, Eddie’s song “Whatever Happened to Saturday Night?”(aka “Hot Patootie”) addresses this issue of how the hippie movement and the Sexual Revolution "ruined" everything. There’s even a reference to the change (for the worse, in Eddie’s opinion) in American pop culture and music, away from the romance of 1950s rock and roll, and toward the politics and disenfranchisement and nihilism of 1960s acid rock, embodied in the image of rock icon Buddy Holly’s premature death. This song is far from the pointless interruption of the show that some people claim. You'll always look foolish if you condemn Grease, Hair, ot Rocky Horror as empty-headed silliness. Just because you may not see the substance doesn't mean it's not there... Eddie’s song is a pointed commentary on the way the Sexual Revolution (in the person of Frank) was changing sex and romance in America (in the person of Columbia), a last, metaphorical stab at stopping the tide of the Sexual Revolution, and a final warning as the show’s first half comes to a close that Brad and Janet’s world is gone. Frank and the Sexual Revolution are too strong, and they silence forever the simplicity and purity of 50s rock and romance through Frank’s act of murdering Eddie, in effect also shutting the door forever on Brad and Janet’s old-fashioned world of sexual innocence.

This is also a theme addressed, though more subtly, in the show’s opening, “Science Fiction Double Feature.” A close reading of this lyric shows a real longing for the innocence of the 1950s, when sex was all subtext and metaphor. The song starts by taking us back to that idealized time when movies told Americans what was good and bad, right and wrong, acceptable and “deviant.” And they told us all this very carefully and indirectly. But subtextual sexuality couldn’t stay hidden forever. Rock and roll would emerge, alongside drive-in movies, and these forces would change sex forever. Which is the central through-line of Grease, by the way. This opening song in Rocky Horror sets up the central conflict of the show, though like the movies it celebrates, it does so subtly. It positions open, overt sexuality as not just a threat, but also a despoiler of the innocent, sweet, teen sexuality of the 1950s, a kind of innocence that existed more on the screen than in the back row of the local movie house. In this song, O’Brien is talking about the very center of the culture of the fifties: the nexus of sex, drive-ins, and rock and roll, the forces that were changing America in profound ways. And a big part of the drive-in experience was low-budget science fiction, often in double features. “Science Fiction Double Feature” is O’Brien’s statement of purpose. This will be a story about the (false) moral perfection of the 1950s as it slams up against the wild explorations of the Sexual Revolution, here rendered "in the back row." Rocky Horror explored American sexual hang-ups, the excesses of the Sexual Revolution, and the sometimes cruel myth of the American Dream. It used as its vocabulary pop culture icons like Charles Atlas and muscle magazines, Frederick’s of Hollywood, old sci-fi movies with scantily clad women, horror movies with barely sublimated sexual fantasies, glam rock with its blurring of gender lines – all icons that represented the history of Americans hiding sex behind other things.

And perhaps it’s Rocky’s underlying condemnation of America’s sexual puritanicalism and hypocrisy that keeps the show relevant today. Rocky satirizes sex in America by personifying in Brad and Janet the two responses American society had toward the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s, and the revolution itself personified by the gender-vague, pansexual Frank N. Furter. In the real world, half of America (Brad) responded to the Sexual Revolution by fighting even harder than before to stop the progression of sexual freedom, to demonize homosexuality, to condemn sexual independence in women, to blame all of America’s ills on sex, to brand (or rebrand) otherwise healthy expressions of sexuality as dirty and inappropriate. The other half of America (Janet) responded with an almost manic sexual celebration and a kind of aggressive experimentation that today may seem outrageous. Both reactions in the real world probably made the early stages of the AIDS pandemic worse than it should have been. And Rocky Horror rightly satirizes both reactions. Both sides went too far. You can't transplant this story to another cultural context. The Rocky Horror Show is about a time in America when our nation stood at a crossroads. Sexual oppression was ending (or at least, beginning to fade) and America had to decide how it would move forward. But neither the people who celebrated this new era or the people terrified by it acted responsibly; neither side caused AIDS, but both sides helped it spread. Of course, Rocky Horror is not about AIDS, but it is about consequences. It was written in 1973, but it is about sexual politics in America then and now. Watching it today, we can see a moment in time when it wasn’t yet too late, when the devastation of a generation of innocent men and women should not have been inevitable. We can love the music, laugh at the jokes, and sing along with “The Time Warp,” but we should never forget that Rocky Horror is about something. Something very specific.

You wouldn't set Grease in the 80s (although the 1994 revival tried), so don't don't do it to Rocky. It's not just a sex farce or a drag show. Why some directors feel the need to impose a "vision" or a metaphor on shows is beyond me. Just tell the fucking story. And this story is about America in the early 1970s, a moment so sui generis there is no adequate substitute. So let's do "The Time Warp" again and again, but let's leave the leather harness at home. Long Live the Musical! Scott from The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre http://newlinetheatre.blogspot.com/2017/10/it-was-great-when-it-all-began.html