In studying not only the distinct aesthetics and themes of the film but also the experience of the cult midnight movie screenings, this thesis re-positions The Rocky Horror Picture show as a radical descendent of the theatrical legacy of Jean- Martin Charcot’s lectures on hysteria. His “theatre of hysteria” is a retroactive terminology for the physician’s highlytheatricalized lecture series at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris in the 1880s on the diagnosis of hysteria, during which the bodies of hysterical patients were rendered an objectified public spectacle under the guise of medical observation. The thesis explores intersections between queer and hysterical performance studies, seeking to illuminate the ways in which specific choreographies and gesturing – depicted cinematically and echoed by the shadow cast and spectators in The Rocky Horror Picture Show – iterate a shared experience of marginalization between bodies deemed “hysterical” and queer bodies.
","abstract_html":"<p>In studying not only the distinct aesthetics and themes of the film but also the experience of the cult midnight movie screenings, this thesis re-positions The Rocky Horror Picture show as a radical descendent of the theatrical legacy of Jean- Martin Charcot’s lectures on hysteria. His “theatre of hysteria” is a retroactive terminology for the physician’s highlytheatricalized lecture series at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris in the 1880s on the diagnosis of hysteria, during which the bodies of hysterical patients were rendered an objectified public spectacle under the guise of medical observation. The thesis explores intersections between queer and hysterical performance studies, seeking to illuminate the ways in which specific choreographies and gesturing – depicted cinematically and echoed by the shadow cast and spectators in The Rocky Horror Picture Show – iterate a shared experience of marginalization between bodies deemed “hysterical” and queer bodies.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Wendorf, Frances"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Film Studies","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Kelli Fuery","Ian Barnard","Jocelyn L. Buckner"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:31Z","subjects":["film studies","performance studies","gender studies","queer studies","The Rocky Horror Picture Show","hysteria","Film and Media Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/film_studies_theses/25","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Kelli Fuery","Ian Barnard","Jocelyn L. Buckner"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Wendorf, Frances"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-05-12T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Film Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["film studies","performance studies","gender studies","queer studies","The Rocky Horror Picture Show","hysteria","Film and Media Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/film_studies_theses/25"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In studying not only the distinct aesthetics and themes of the film but also the experience of the cult midnight movie screenings, this thesis re-positions The Rocky Horror Picture show as a radical descendent of the theatrical legacy of Jean- Martin Charcot’s lectures on hysteria. His “theatre of hysteria” is a retroactive terminology for the physician’s highlytheatricalized lecture series at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris in the 1880s on the diagnosis of hysteria, during which the bodies of hysterical patients were rendered an objectified public spectacle under the guise of medical observation. The thesis explores intersections between queer and hysterical performance studies, seeking to illuminate the ways in which specific choreographies and gesturing – depicted cinematically and echoed by the shadow cast and spectators in The Rocky Horror Picture Show – iterate a shared experience of marginalization between bodies deemed “hysterical” and queer bodies.
"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Wendorf, Frances. \"“Let’s Do The Time Warp, Again!” The Rocky Horror Picture Show as Hysterical Theatre.\" Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2023. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000474"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["“Let’s Do The Time Warp, Again!” The Rocky Horror Picture Show as Hysterical Theatre"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Kelli Fuery","Ian Barnard","Jocelyn L. Buckner"],"dc:creator":["Wendorf, Frances"],"dc:date.available":["2025-05-12T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In studying not only the distinct aesthetics and themes of the film but also the experience of the cult midnight movie screenings, this thesis re-positions The Rocky Horror Picture show as a radical descendent of the theatrical legacy of Jean- Martin Charcot’s lectures on hysteria. His “theatre of hysteria” is a retroactive terminology for the physician’s highlytheatricalized lecture series at the Salpêtrière hospital in Paris in the 1880s on the diagnosis of hysteria, during which the bodies of hysterical patients were rendered an objectified public spectacle under the guise of medical observation. The thesis explores intersections between queer and hysterical performance studies, seeking to illuminate the ways in which specific choreographies and gesturing – depicted cinematically and echoed by the shadow cast and spectators in The Rocky Horror Picture Show – iterate a shared experience of marginalization between bodies deemed “hysterical” and queer bodies.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/film_studies_theses/25"],"dc:source":["Wendorf, Frances. \"“Let’s Do The Time Warp, Again!” The Rocky Horror Picture Show as Hysterical Theatre.\" Master's thesis, Chapman University, 2023. https://doi.org/10.36837/chapman.000474"],"dc:subject":["film studies","performance studies","gender studies","queer studies","The Rocky Horror Picture Show","hysteria","Film and Media Studies"],"dc:title":["“Let’s Do The Time Warp, Again!” The Rocky Horror Picture Show as Hysterical Theatre"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Film Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:38:31Z"}