Exploring and Celebrating The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Popular Culture
PopCRN is delighted to announce a conference dedicated to the cult phenomenon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This free, online event will be held on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th of November 2025.
Since its release in 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has transcended its status as a film to become a cultural institution. What began as a box office failure evolved into the longest-running theatrical release in cinema history, with midnight screenings continuing worldwide for over five decades. The film's blend of horror, science fiction, comedy, and musical elements created a unique space for audiences to explore themes of sexuality, gender fluidity, and self-expression long before these conversations entered mainstream discourse. The Rocky Horror Picture Show's participatory nature has fostered communities of devoted fans who transform screenings into immersive theatrical experiences through costumes, props, callbacks, and shadow casts. This level of audience engagement represents a distinctive form of cultural production that challenges traditional boundaries between creators and consumers.
This call for papers seeks contributions on the impact and legacy of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in popular culture, from its theatrical origins to its ongoing influence in the 21st century.
Presenters will have an opportunity to publish their work in an edited volume to be released in 2026.
We welcome papers on any topic relating to Rocky Horror, but here are some suggestions to inspire you:
- "Give yourself over to absolute pleasure" – Rocky Horror and the politics of pleasure
- "I see you shiver with antici...pation" – audience participation and ritual
- "Don't dream it, be it" – Rocky Horror as queer liberation text
- "I'm just a sweet transvestite" – evolving language and representations of gender
- "Creatures of the night" – Rocky Horror's horror and science fiction elements
- "Let's do the Time Warp again" – nostalgia and temporal displacement
- "Dammit, Janet!" – character archetypes and their cultural significance
- "In another dimension" – Rocky Horror's international adaptations and reception
- "A mental mind-fuck can be nice" – psychological readings of Rocky Horror
- "I've seen blue skies through the tears" – Rocky Horror as emotional catharsis
- "Whatever happened to Saturday night?" – Rocky Horror and changing entertainment landscapes
- "I thought you were the candy man" – consumption and excess in Rocky Horror
- "Hot patootie, bless my soul" – music and performance in Rocky Horror
- "That's a rather tender subject" – Rocky Horror and sexual awakening
- "It's not easy having a good time" – Rocky Horror as countercultural statement
- "You're as hot as an ice cream" – food symbolism and consumption
- "Rose tints my world" – color theory and visual aesthetics
- "I'm a muscle fan" – body politics and physical ideals
- "Your lifestyle's too extreme" – Rocky Horror and moral panic
- "Science fiction double feature" – intertextuality and genre-blending
- "The darkness must go" – light and shadow as narrative devices
- "The sword of Damocles" – classical references and literary influences
- "From old science fiction" – Rocky Horror's place in sci-fi history
- "I've done a lot, God knows I've tried" – religious imagery and subversion
Please submit by your proposed abstract by 31st August 2025
- Submit here - https://tinyurl.com/2hyksxn8
- Register here - tinyurl.com/mrxeys35
- Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au
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