Let me get this straight: I'm not going to deny RHPS was likely groundbreaking in its day and dealt with subjects that weren't easily featured in most movies.
However, I'm still baffled by how such a campy and disjointed work has transcended the boundaries of its own niche, achieving pop-culture relevance since.
The whole thing is (consciously?) so out there you can't possibly take it even remotely seriously, regardless of how many times the message (whatever you are, be it!) gets hammered home. Sexuality as a whole is so ridiculously overplayed it loses it's edge after the 3rd musical number featuring what must be the take on cross-dressing/homo- and bisexuality of a horny and confused teenager.
Again, it may have been relevant in the mid-70s, but for today's standards it just looks, sounds and feels lame and painfully outdated, something you'd expect to see in Austin Powers as a throwaway gag.
Maybe even the fans don't take it seriously, and the whole "cosplay" thing is the parody of a parody, but it's hard to tell where the line between ironic fandom and bona-fide support lies.
Either way, to me RHPS is still a terrible movie and a mediocre musical with an incredibly outdated feel to it.
However, I'm still baffled by how such a campy and disjointed work has transcended the boundaries of its own niche, achieving pop-culture relevance since.
The whole thing is (consciously?) so out there you can't possibly take it even remotely seriously, regardless of how many times the message (whatever you are, be it!) gets hammered home. Sexuality as a whole is so ridiculously overplayed it loses it's edge after the 3rd musical number featuring what must be the take on cross-dressing/homo- and bisexuality of a horny and confused teenager.
Again, it may have been relevant in the mid-70s, but for today's standards it just looks, sounds and feels lame and painfully outdated, something you'd expect to see in Austin Powers as a throwaway gag.
Maybe even the fans don't take it seriously, and the whole "cosplay" thing is the parody of a parody, but it's hard to tell where the line between ironic fandom and bona-fide support lies.
Either way, to me RHPS is still a terrible movie and a mediocre musical with an incredibly outdated feel to it.