WHY THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW FAILED

What happens when you remake iconic films like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"?  The answer to that question really depends on what the filmmakers attempt to do with the new franchise.  We have living examples of this all around us today.

Let's start with "Batman".  As an iconic film, Tim Burton's "Batman" is nothing short of classic!  It continues to top the list of best super hero movies.  Even though the franchise itself fell into disarray with subsequent films due to replacement actors and a rapidly multiplying cast of villains; the original film (along with the rest of Burton's catalog of pre-steam punk gothic media), would go on to inspire a new generation of filmmakers to push the boundaries of imagination.

Following in the footsteps of that first film, there was no way to relaunch that franchise and follow the same formula.  Fortunately for us, Christopher Nolan was smart enough not to compete with Burton's classic.  Knowing an origin story was inevitable, Nolan re-imagined the franchise.  He took Batman's primary external conflict, (his need for justice after the murder of his parents) and internalized it by having the Wayne murderer publically executed before Bruce had a chance to do away with him.  This one simple change catapulted the character into a completely different level of character development.  It also helped Nolan create one of the best superhero trilogies ever committed to film.

We have another great example of this with the television series Battlestar Galactica.  The SciFi reboot was a re-imagined version of the original series.  The cast became real rather than the live action cartoon characters of the original 70's series.  The new series was edgier, more urgent and made the reality of the back story that much more believable.

But let's not get too carried away...  There are just as many bad examples as good.  I'd like to focus for one minute on J.J. Abrams and what he did with the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" franchises, because I think it demonstrates the principle I want to apply to the "Rocky Horror Picture Show".

Abrams re-imagined the Star Trek universe and his movies have all been well received by fans.  Even die hard fans who didn't like the idea of replacing Spock and Kirk with younger actors eventually jumped on board.  However, what Abrams did with Star Wars was less than spectacular...

The biggest complaint about "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" I've heard is that it is plot point by plot point "Star Wars: A New Hope" all over again.  Abrams may have refreshed the way we look at a Star Wars film through his unique style of shooting action sequences, but the lack of originality in the storyline was disappointing to die-hards who were desperate for a shake up in their favorite film series.  I didn't see the new Star Wars film during the opening weeks.  I waited a month, but when I did go to see it, I had the entire theater to myself.  Subsequently, I saw Star Trek twice.  Once right during the initial week of release and once about a month later with my dad.  The theater was still somewhat packed.

I see a trend in these films.  When something is re-imagined, it fares better than an updated remake.  That being said, part of what made "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" so remarkable was it's edge.  Queer transgender bisexuality was a virtual unknown taboo when this film came out.  Much like early John Waters fare, it was sought out and viewed by a subculture who was drawn to the controversial subject matter and themes.

In today's world, where Rupaul's Drag Race is a show watched in hundreds of thousands of homes across the US, neither transvestites or drag queens are seen as subversive.  In fact, changing Tim Curry's Frankenfurter into a Drag Queen actually kills the character's edge.  There's nothing dark and dangerous about an over the top flamboyant queen.

But the biggest flaw in this remake isn't the attempts to update characters, it's the lack of a reimagining of the story.  Knowing the impact of the original film, writers should have written a new script specifically with the audience cat calls in mind and given us a completely new story vaguely resembling the original.  A change of music would even seem appropriate if one was to truly challenge themselves in remaking such a cult classic.  

Instead, we get a watered down broadway musical version that looks and feels more like a Vegas Lounge act.

I guess the moral of this story is simple...  You just don't mess with a classic.  What I find most disturbing is the lack of innovation in the business that something like this has money spent on it and original, new film visionaries are struggling with crappy budgets to do mediocre versions of truly innovative scripts.

This was a bad idea from the start and apparently, no one had the sense to stop this train wreck from happening.  Described as a tribute to the original film with only the visual element being updated seems rather pointless and more like an excuse rather than a description.

But enough about this...  I'll leave my commentary there for now.  In my opinion, this film should've never been made.

CLOSING BORDERS, BUILDING A FENCE...

Someone asked me the other day who I was voting for.  Someone I love dearly.  I answered that I wasn't sure, but the reality is, I've learned my lesson over the years.  I don't want to antagonize my family so I don't discuss politics with them.  However, this lovely human being I adore so much, started to explain to me why she thought Trump was the best choice for president and one of the things she mentioned was closing our borders.

You know, the world is a scary place these days.  And it's getting scarier.  You watch terrorists attacking cities in Europe and even the US.  Shootings on television and all sorts of insanity show up every night on the evening news.  It's no wonder she's worried.

When you listen to these news stories, it's easy to decide to blame one group of people and say, "it's their fault."  After all, it's true terrorist organizations are using refugees fleeing Syria and the Middle East to sneak their people into Europe with the intention of inflicting acts of terror on the citizens of those countries.  It's true.  But will closing the borders make that stop?

It's also true we have a huge problem with people entering the US illegally and trying to find work here.  Will building a fence or closing a border prevent them from trying to find a better way of life for themselves or their children?

I don't think so.

But more importantly, I think about Jesus Christ and what he would do.  Would he close borders out of fear of terrorism or because foreigners were using up our resources?  Would he deny someone a chance for freedom from tyranny or a better economic future for their family?

Christ taught charity.  He asked us to treat our neighbors as we ourselves would want to be treated.  But most importantly, in the gospel of Matthew chapter 5 verse 39, Christ says, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil:  but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."  The meaning of this message is clear.  Where the Old Testament taught us an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth...  Christ taught sufferance.  

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that God never intended for us to live violent lives.  He doesn't want any of us to suffer at the hands of terrorists.  But he didn't want us to play it safe either.  He never intended for us to live in a world where we hide behind closed borders or walls and shut the pain and hardship of others out in order to stay safe.

He wants us to extend our hands to help those who are injured or harmed by tyranny, who would strive to provide for their families.  Building a wall, closing a border or locking the world out will never soften the hearts of our enemies.  It will never cause the change God wants to see in the world.  There's no love in turning away.

The world is a scary, dangerous place.

That's true...

But I prefer to see it in a different way.  The world is a place full of opportunity to reach out our hands in kindness, charity and fellowship to those who are suffering.  Those sons and daughters of God who so desperately need the love we've been readily blessed with.

Closing our borders...  Building a wall...

...Is not the path of Christ.

GROWING UP WITH PRINCE

Since learning of his death, I've felt strangely numb about Prince.  I've spent the past day or so reading reactions and watching response videos.  I feel sad.  I feel excited.  I feel like I should be feeling more.  I guess the best way to figure out what I'm feeling is to write about it and see where I end up.

I remember hearing '1999' when it first came out.  My sister was a huge Michael Jackson fan and to be honest, I actually thought the song was by the Jackson Five.  I clearly remember only hearing it in passing and making that connection in my mind.  I discovered my mistake later.  I didn't actually learn about Prince himself until Middle School.  A kid in my shop class had the "Purple Rain" cassette and the first song I heard was 'Let's Go Crazy'.  I was floored.

I was instantly drawn to the sound of the Linn Drum Machine.  Combined with guitar and exploding synth lines, it was unlike anything I'd ever heard.  Coupled with this quasi religious preacher intro that set my little indoctrinated teenage heart aflutter, I was transfixed.  I'd never associated music with church.  It seemed surreal.  I was at an age where I was opening my mind to new ideas and everything seemed like a discovery.

Popular music is a cycle constantly repeating itself.  As you get older, listening to current pop love songs can be a tedious exercise.  It's all been said before...  Written and performed over and over again...  But pop music is written for the young.  Those who are discovering love in that moment.  And when Prince exploded on the scene with "Purple Rain", those ideas were fresh and new to me.  I began exploring the world of more complicated emotions through him.

To say his music shaped my emotional growth would be an understatement.  And it wouldn't fully incorporate everything that drew me to him.  New Wave was full of strange hair, different fashions, weird electronic sounds and beats.  More than any previous generation, we expressed ourselves in outrageous ways.  The 80's was full of new instruments and sounds.  The pioneers of this movement would change the course of music forever.  Prince embraced the new with the old and created a hybrid form of rock uniquely his own.  Those of us who went along for the ride would begin a musical journey unlike any other in the history of popular music.

The colors, the artwork, the other-worldly sounds...  The way Prince would write "U" instead of "You" or "2" instead of "to"...  all of it combined to fuel my imagination and look at everything around me with the notion that one thing can be more than just what it seems.  You only need to look at the cover of "Around The World In A Day" to see how easy it could be to lose yourself in discovery.  I'd spend hours pouring over the paintings.  Looking for hidden messages or meaning.

There were the people...  Wendy, Lisa, Matt, Mark, Bobby...  And later Sheila, Eric, Morris, Jill, Jerome, Miko...  All of them seemed like mythic figures in his tapestry of sound.  Each one was a vital piece of Paisley Park; the magical place where we could live together in harmony.  Where all of our artistic promise could find expression and fulfillment.

As Prince embraced new sounds and expanded his musical palette, so did I.  When he released a Jazz album, I gained my first exposure into that genre and developed an appreciation for it.

Remember the Paisley Park logo?  It was surprisingly beautiful to my eye and I discovered very quickly it was easy to find new Paisley Park albums by looking for that unmistakable logo on the spine of cassette tapes.  I'd walk along the wall racks skimming for it.  Once again, my imagination and exposure to new sounds found itself challenged through new artists, new looks, different colors and artwork.

We became the secret army of colorful people who dreamed in rainbow technicolor and used our Paisley decoders to find the new and hidden chapters in the Prince experience.

Watching him perform live was electrifying.  He danced in ways we all wished we could move.  He was life personified in his celebration of the physical in each step he took.

I developed an ear for his composition.  Even among a slew of artists copying his sound, using his spelling, mimicking his work, I could tell if he wrote a song.  I could hear it.  There was a way he played and composed music that signified his presence.  His aural signature was always there.

There was a time in my life when my friends made fun of me for liking him and his music.  I went from boldly wearing my musical passion on my sleeve to hiding it.  Eventually I reached a point where I stopped caring about what others thought.  I started embracing what made me happy and stopped trying to live up to the expectations of others.  I made a lot of changes in my life during that time.  Including coming out.

But he continued to shape aspects of who I am and who I became.  He would help others in secret.  He avoided drawing attention to himself when he achieved something huge.  He tried to encourage others.  I've done many of the same things in my own life.  I've avoided personal glory and done my best to help others in secret.  Without looking for recognition or reward.  This is part of his influence in my life.  It's a core fundamental part of my being.

He shaped me spiritually as well.  It's because of him I haven't abandoned my faith.  I've quietly nurtured it and allowed it to grow into something I find deeply profound.  I use it to define my actions and make decisions.

Most importantly, he gave me a kaleidoscope of music to explore and immerse myself in.  The love of these songs has comforted me when I'm sad, inspired me when I was in love and helped me chart a course in life when I felt lost.

In my favorite Prince song, 'The Beautiful Ones', he sings the line, "U were so hard 2 find" and in so many ways, I've felt that single line describes my search for love throughout my life.

But as rare and wonderful a thing love is...  As impossible as it may be to find, my life companion, Prince was not.  He was always there.

During his acceptance speech for the Award Of Achievement at the 1990 American Music Awards, he said, "I try to create music I've never heard before.  I guess I like surprises.  I hope you do too."

I had the pleasure of meeting this gentle soul 3 times in my life.  And I will never forget one of his messages to me.  He simply wrote, "R U Surprised?"

My honest answer, given with each new song, each new album since that day has always been, "Yes!"

I feel like part of my life has ended now.  I face the rest of it in a world without that kindred soul.  It's time to grow up, get stronger and find my own way through life.  A new chapter is beginning.  Maybe the magic of flowers, doves and watercolor scenery is washing away like a chalk drawing on a pavement in a rainstorm.  I mourn the passing of that time before...  But I will face the dawn of this new day with hope in my heart.

Prince, I promise to keep loving surprises.  I promise to look for them all around me in the new world.  Farewell, my friend...

My lifelong friend.