Good old-fashioned fun

Long before cell phones that can take pictures and virtual computer murder games, there was good old-fashioned fun. It did not require a powerful sim pack or more megabytes or for you to know so-and-so to have a good time. Nope.

Who eats a burger these days, listens to corny music, or sips rootbeer with three scoops of ice cream? Modern times and the new set of edicts have practically taken away the art of having plain old fun. Sure these things are bad for you, but aren’t cell phones and virtual violent-natured games bad for you, too? Just when you think that to have good time these days you’ll need a Cayman bank account, a good 20 hours a day in the office and a personal assistant, you find yourself having fun in the most contrary way. Feeling neither like a kid with a pound of cotton candy nor like a grown-up worry-wart checking her watch every five minutes — I had fun being a lout and a loudmouth at the Rocky Horror Show.

It’s quite normal for many Rocky virgins to feel a bit wary seeing it for the first time. In my case, all I knew about it was that it was campy, it required the audience to dress up as loons, and it had the longest run in movie theaters (20 years). Pretty good stats especially for me, but after I finally experienced Rocky, a horrid underestimation.

It had all the elements: raunch, drag queens, a gilded sex object (of course, it’s Rocky) and the requirement to call the actors sluts and assholes. The naughty part of me (which means all of me) was having a walk in the park that Sunday afternoon, as I reveled at how clever sleaze could be combined with witty dialogue and of course, a well-loaded drag dominatrix. A great cast (especially brilliant was the performance of Calvin Millado as Frank ‘n’ Furter) led by visionary and gifted director Bobby Garcia.

I tried to make light of the messages in the play:

• Uptight people have a lot to hide.

• There are many back-stabbers, some of them feeding off your hand.

• Sooner or later, crime does pay. In this case if you’re a turncoat, you’ll end up with a wedgie.

• You cannot manipulate people. Not even the dumb ones; humans instinctively turn away when they smell crap.

• Banishment is always the prudent punishment for jerks.

• You may think no one is looking, but everyone knows what you’re up to. Like Janet and Brad frolicking behind each other’s backs. Everyone gets caught!

• Blue eyeshadow really does not work.

• You can never successfully bully anyone without wearing your highest heels.

As outlandish as the whole Ziggy Stardust-disco-punk-sci-fi scene may be — if you look past the abs of Rocky, the makeup of Frank ‘n’ Furter (which may require some laser surgery) and the whimpers of Janet — you’ll see that we live in a world that is much more zany than what’s on stage. A world dictated by pretenses, appearances, feigned guilt, statements with double-edged meanings and repressed urges.

Rocky provided a refreshing release from the world of decorum, intellectualism and the façade of sophistication. All very nice things, but it’s fun just being a primate sometimes. Like the narrator said, "To satisfy our basest instincts." To just go along being a hick. To laugh with wanton abandon at things you’re not supposed to laugh at. To not blush when you see legs spread eagle on stage. And to cuss as loudly as you can, with no mother wagging a warning finger or no snoots shooting their noses in the air.

Being comfortable with all that is eccentric and to have fun with dysfunction is great. Not exactly a paragon of healthy living. However, by releasing yourself from inhibitions and by being a crass cow once in a while, you take away all the ifs and buts that may otherwise plague you forever.

Know that these things are not exactly wholesome in nature but not imp either are the realities in life. To see past these oddities as rudiments of Pandora’s Box and to just have a sense of humor about things is the most liberating thing you can do for yourself. I’m not espousing that you be this way all the time or that you raise your kids with wisdom from Pat Pong. But sometimes, when we take life too seriously, we stop living.

So, while other people are busy meddling with the affairs of others, and try to make themselves feel better by putting others down, go and watch Rocky.

Be the person who doesn’t care about what mama taught him (or her) even if it’s just for two hours. Afterwards, have a foot-long hotdog and remember that life is just one big comedy of errors.

There’s one more day of real fun —Rocky’s at the RCBC Tower! Watch out for Bobby Garcia’s Dreamgirls coming in 2003!