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Volume 26 Issue 9 • October 31,2006
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R o c k y i n c i t e s h o r r if ic d e l i g h t S t u d e n t a p p e a l s F E U Q q u e s t io n C la im s p r o c e s s la c k e d p ro p e r d e b a te K ristin M aich
"Damn it, Janet! Where did my pants go?"The cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show tears up the stage at Cinema Imperial. The interactive cult classic invites audience members to throw dry toast, dress up and sing along.
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The interactive screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on All Hallows' Eve is a Montreal institution. Each year, legions of cross-dressing, toast and squirt-gun toting transsexual aficionados line up outside the Corona, Rialto or Imperial cinema to watch a modernized and augment ed version of one of the world's most popular adult films. A raunchy, lascivious costume contest— hosted every year by Montreal's most notorious drag queen, Plastik Patrick— kicks off the evening, followed by a screening of the film accompanied by an onstage, fully costumed, simultane ous re-enactment of every scene, song and dance num ber. During the performance, "The Voice"— an offstage cast member with a microphone— adds lewd, rapid-fire, n between-the-lines commentary and audience members are encouraged to fling water, toilet paper rolls, rice and toast across rows of other spectators. Montreal Event Producer Phil Spurrell, who has been coordinating these screenings for the past nine years, says that the Halloween edition of RHPS is not only an inimi table theatrical experience, but provides a healthy envi
ronment for people to momentarily relinquish their inhibi tions."! think its success as a phenomenon is that it allows people to do things they otherwise wouldn't be allowed to do in a normal film experience,"he explains."In a normal cineplex, you can't throw stuff around at your neighbours. [This production] gives you license to do what you fanta size about, not even to mention the sexual overtones. Its underlying philosophy is: Don't dream it, be it!" For those of you unfamiliar with the source mate rial, RHPS is a campy, most likely acid-influenced musical production that was adapted to the screen by actor/ composer Richard O'Brien at the behest of 20 th Century Fox. This B-movie homage is a twisted chronicle about a countryside flat tire leading to a night of unparalleled de bauchery and loss of innocence set against a backdrop of lingerie, sexual ambiguity and 1970 s glam-rock. The film boasted big-ticket names such as Tim Curry, Meat Loaf and Susan Sarandon but initially seemed unable to get off the ground. Due to an inability to market the film success fully, the 1 9 7 5 production saw a financially discouraging See RHPS on page 15
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Students will vote next week on whether they wish to remain members of la Fédération Etudi ante Universitaire du Québec, a provincial student lobby group. But the question that will be put to voters and the process leading to its placement on the ballot has been challenged by former Stu dents' Society executive Eric van Eyken. The question was added to the fall referendum ballot during a special meeting of the Students' Society Council on Oct. 5 . The proposed question was sent out to SSMU Council on Oct. 2, and three days later was both presented and adopted. The question was later amended by the chief returning officer in ac cordance with SSMU Constitution and then ratified by Council. Van Eyken, who was FEUQ secretary general last summer, disputed the democratic nature of the meeting that proposed and adopted the question. In his petitioner's application, he ar gued that Council did not follow the spirit of the SSMU Constitu tion when it adjourned for less than 15 minutes before reconven ing to pass the referendum ques tion. “It was immediate,"Van Eyken said. TTiere were two to three minutes between when Council adjourned and reconvened on Oct. 5 ' He also claimed that besides the SSMU executives, no one de bated the issue. "It was completely a formal ity. [Council] didn't have enough
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time to consider and discuss the proposal before reconvening." But SSMU President Aaron Donny-Clark refuted the claim. "We formally recessed for 15 minutes. There was good discus sion of the motion during the meeting. I actually motioned that we take a week between the two meetings," he said. "It was Coun cil that decided, fully within its own rights, to [reconvene] on the same night." SSMU Vice-President Exter nal Max Silverman agreed with Donny-Clark. He said a council member suggested that the issue be considered on the same eve ning. Van Eyken's challenge must be heard by the SSMU Judicial Board, which is made up of McGill law students and rules on wheth er the actions of Council, clubs or services respect the SSMU Consti tution. This year's J-Board justices have yet to be chosen by the Nominating Committee of the Society. Van Eyken also argued in the petition that the referendum question is biased, lengthy and unclear. "The preamble does not contain facts, but merely argu ments advanced by SSMU for termination of its affiliation with the FEUQ." But SSMU VP Clubs and Ser vices Floh Herra-Vega said that the question is quite straightfor ward. "We do not believe it is un clear at all. It is worded to dem onstrate why the referendum is
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