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This podcast is being brought to you by WXAV 88.3 FM and WXAV.com. WXAV, bringing the best podcasts to you. Hello, everyone. Hello, my name is Perla.
And my name is Casey. And this is the pilot episode of the College Exchange, a podcast where Perla recommends me an anime. And Casey recommends me a musical. And we talk about it.
This week's theme is Personal Favorites. The anime that I have chosen for Casey is Kiki's Delivery Service. The musical that I chose for Perla is the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Let's exchange.
Who wants to start? Now I know how teachers feel. Yeah, I know. When they're trying to get a discussion going, they're like, who wants to start?
Should we start with Kiki's Delivery Service? Kiki's Delivery Service. So we're talking about Personal Favorites. And the reason I chose Kiki's Delivery Service is because you told me the only anime that you've ever watched is Grave of the Fireflies, which is a Studio Ghibli movie, if I'm not mistaken.
Wait, is it? I didn't know that. But the reason I chose Kiki's Delivery Service is because you said the only anime-esque thing you've ever watched was Grave of the Fireflies, which, by the way, is brutal. Honestly, I know it's not even, like, where I'm supposed to be technically talking about it, but I did not understand why that affected so many people.
Not like, okay, I should reword that. I don't know why everyone thinks it's so sad. I didn't find it, like, that sad. Really?
Yeah, maybe I watched it wrong. I don't know, because my sister, who, like, never cries, my sister is, like, very much, like, like, if we're watching a sad movie, she'll literally, like, side-eye me and kind of, like, give me an angry glare. And she'll literally be like, are you crying? Like, she was literally sobbing to the Grave of the Fireflies.
I wasn't there with her, but she was telling me. She was like, don't ever watch this movie. It's so sad. That surprised me, because I cry at everything.
Literally, even if it's not sad or anything, like, movie, film-wise, I will always cry, like, because I'm being an empath. But the Grave of the Fireflies, they're not doing for me. Really? Wow.
Like, I know, what is it? Yeah, I haven't seen the Grave of the Fireflies, but I know, like, I know what it's about. And, like, basically, I know what it's about, and I know how brutal and sad it is. So it's actually insane.
But, yeah, I chose Yu-Ki-Ki's Delivery Service, because it's my favorite. It's so cute. It's so fun. I love Little Girl Adventure with her black cat.
Oh, yes. I love Gigi. I know. He's so freaking cute.
I just love, I love that she's a witch. I love that it's just basically, like, like, there's no, like, the plot is that, like, she's, like, being, she's becoming a witch, you know, she's going out on her own. But I love how there's, like, no main plot. Like, she's not fighting against anything.
She's, like, not, like, there's no obstacle for her to overcome. It's literally just her living life now, like, by herself. And I love it. She, like, works for this little bakery.
Like, god, that bird looks so good. She works for this little bakery. She lives in her own little, like, house. Like, it's just so cute.
Like, I love it. It's just so, like, what is it? Like, slice of life. I just love it.
It's so cute. Definitely. Going into this, I had no idea what it was about, actually. So when they were like, oh, my god, yeah, you're 13, you're a witch, you're going to have to go away from you.
I was like, oh, okay, bitches. Literally. The craft, but anime. Oh, my god, yeah.
The craft minus all the stuff that happens. The craft minus all the bad stuff. Literally. The craft, but make it cute.
Yes. Yeah, like you were saying, I feel like there was really no plot, almost. She was kind of living her life. Yeah.
Kind of finding herself in that way. The only kind of major, like, plot, like, not disruptions, but the thing that she had overcome was that she couldn't fly at that one point. Yeah. And she's like, oh, my gosh, like, chat, what's going on?
Like, can I fly? What's going on? God, that's so magical, though. I love her with her little broom and just learning how to fly.
It's, oh, my god, it's just so cute. I love, my favorite scene is in the beginning where after she leaves and she's flying over the city and just, oh, my god, how beautiful it looks. Oh, my god, yes. The, like, I don't want to say the lighting, but, like, everything is so bright.
It's so bright and colorful. It's so beautiful. Yeah. It's, oh, my god.
And the fact that everything's, like, hand-painted is actually insane. I didn't know that. Yeah. Because it's just, like, late 80s, like, 1989.
So, basically, at that point, they had just started switching over to computer emanation. Emanation. They just started switching over to computer animation. But, obviously, since this was 89, that's when it was published.
But, obviously, the making is probably, like, later down the line or before that. So, they probably hand-painted everything. That's so cute, though. That's actually insane to me.
Yeah. Because when I was watching, there was, um, it was the part, like, kind of towards the end where Kiki goes to, I mean, what was her name? I already forgot her. Ursula, the painter girl.
Uh-huh. Because, yeah, she stopped being able to fly. But then Ursula actually came to visit her and was like, oh, let's go to my place. So, then, um.
I just love how it's really just people hanging out. Yeah, literally, that's what I did. I love that, though. Because I feel like, for me, and somebody explained it perfectly the other day when I was on TikTok.
Somebody had said, I never liked, like, how after, like, stories concluded happily that we never got to see them live their lives. Somebody was like, I want to see them do laundry. I want to see them, like, eat dinner. I feel like that's what it is.
Because, like, she works, and then she goes to bed, and then, like, she has dinner. She hangs out with friends. She goes out to, like, the ocean and stuff like that. It's like, that's what I want to see.
I want to see people just doing normal things. Literally, yes. I feel like that applies to so many movies. Oh, but the point I was getting at was that, um, when they were back at Ursula's, the painting that she was currently working on, that she needed Kiki to, like, post for and everything, it was, like, it was so beautiful, the painting.
It's so amazing. And I was like, this looks like a literal painting. Yeah. IRL painting.
It probably was. I used to paint those backgrounds and stuff like that. I've seen, I was just watching a movie on DVD this weekend, and we were watching the behind the scenes, because me and my family are all nerds, and we were, like, watching them, like, paint backgrounds, like, by hand. I'm like, that's actually insanity.
Oh, my God. Like, to take time, because I just, um, last semester I took a podcast class, and for my podcast, I decided to do the history of animation. Man, I, like, literally did deep dive research on, like, animation, especially, like, hand-drawn animation, which was obviously the main form of how they did it, before computers and everything took over. Man, the amount of people that is needed just to make a single scene is insane.
It's so much work, and honestly, kudos to them. And, you know, even though computer animation, even though it exists as long, I can't imagine hand-drawn, hand-painting, everything. It's just, oh, my God, man. God bless animators.
Yeah, that's some serious dedication to your craft. Serious dedication and passion, man. Like, I love writing, man. As soon as I get writer's block, I'm like, you know what?
I don't like this anymore. Literally, I'm gonna meet you. But, um, yeah, but this, it was so, so beautiful. I did find myself being, like, okay, so, so when's it, like, real challenging to get here?
Because I didn't realize that this was mainly just, like, a chill, like, a low-stimulating movie where they just chill, because in every single movie, there's an obstacle they have to overcome, some kind of plot twist or something. So I was like, oh, is that gonna happen? But it didn't. But I actually enjoyed that.
Yeah, it's just magical witch girl going around town with her cat. It's great, man. It's just, it's just, like, yeah, it's such a low-stimulating movie. It's just so great to put in the background, like, to wind down and stuff like that.
That's the kind of stuff you put on when you want your kid to go to bed. But someone wants to watch one more movie, so you just put on Kiki's Delivery Service. Yes. I think it's such a cute, cute little film.
Oh, I'm so happy I could watch it. I know, it's so cute. It's my favorite. Oh, my God, we were just talking about Kiki's Delivery Service is in theaters for, I think it's an anniversary.
I don't think so, though. Wait, no, that would have meant, wait. No, it honestly might be. It could be, like, it's 17th anniversary.
Can you tell me we don't know how to do that? 17th? I don't know. She's back.
She's back in theaters. Okay, so let's talk Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh, my gosh, my favorite topic in the world. First of all, first word that comes to mind when we talk Rocky Horror, iconic.
Yes. Fierce. Fierce, diva. I could talk literally all day about it.
And I see why. Yes, because I'm doing it for my senior seminar project. I'm doing a video essay about the cultural significance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. For this past semester, I had to write a 30-page paper about it.
Got that done in no time. Oh, my God, it's just so good. It's so understandable why it's such a cult classic. Yeah.
Because it is so timeless. Like, even though it was just celebrated the 50th year anniversary, it still is shown in theaters. Have you been? Well, no, I'm guessing.
Wait, have you been to a showing? No, I haven't. Oh, my God, you need to. I know.
Oh, they're so fun. I know. I could already, God, already from the intro, I could tell. Well, first of all, Rocky Horror was made, like, 70s already from the themes of the film and the characters in the film.
I was like, if this was made in the 70s, this was definitely monumental. This was definitely, like, so different for its time. I mean, it's literally a bunch of gay people in fishnats. Yes.
Kicking all up on each other. Terrorizing this straight couple. Yes, exactly. I love that.
And I love it. It's so iconic. It literally starts off, like, suburban little family, suburban little couple, you know, at a wedding, being like, oh, God, is he going to marry me? And then it's, like, a bunch of gay people in a castle, and it's like, do you want to see my boyfriend that I'm making upstairs?
Oh, my God, literally, yes. And I love it. God. Dr.
Frankenfurter, Tim Curry, man. What an icon. What a diva. Oh, my God.
Listen, I don't know Tim Curry's sexual orientation. He could be a gay man. I would be, I would literally be fooled if he wasn't. You're going to tell me that a straight man can put on a performance like that?
Yeah. I mean, it's insane the way Tim Curry just absolutely changes. I mean, the way, I mean, you can tell it's Tim Curry, but his personality just absolutely dominates, like, his entire persona. Like, you can tell me that's Tim Curry.
That is friggin' Dr. Frankenfurter. Literally. Like, Frankenfurter, like, possesses Tim Curry.
Because originally, it was a stage production in, like, the very late 60s, early 70s, like, a couple years before they made the, well, I'm pretty sure it was, like, 1972, 73, where there was a stage production in London, and the creator of Rocky Horror, Richard O'Brien, he knew Tim Curry from, like, the production of Hair and everything, because Richard O'Brien was doing Jesus Christ Superstar at the time and everything, and they, like, bumped into each other on the street, and Richard was like, hey, I'm working on a little musical, and obviously, when they made it into a film, they pretty much kept the main cast for it, but they really wanted Brad and Janet to be played by Americans, so they were more, like, outsiders like they are in the film, as we see. But, yeah, Frankenfurter, oh, my God, I, ugh. He's so bad. Just, first of all, the outfit of the corset and the fishnets and the heels and the ginormous giant pearl necklace is already iconic in itself.
I feel like, in that 70s show, it's when Fez dresses up as Dr. Frankenfurter. I forgot about that. Oh, my God.
I'm going to dress up as Dr. Frankenfurter. In anime, in the anime One Piece, there's a character called Dr., not, his name's not Dr., Jesus Christ. I literally, because his name is Ivankov, and you could literally tell that's Frankenfurter because of the top that he wears and the fishnets and then his eye makeup, too, and his big, like, curly hair and the pearl necklace.
Does he wear a pearl necklace? I can't remember. Oh, my gosh. This is so funny, because last semester, as we were in a seminar, we were writing our papers, and we had to, like, exchange our drafts with the person next to us, and the guy next to me, who I exchanged with, he's doing a original research paper about One Piece.
Is it Danny? Yeah. Shout out Danny. Shout out Danny, man, if you're listening.
Yeah, shout out to you, but he, as he was reading, he's like, wait, this sounds so familiar, and then he's, like, pulled up his phone, and he's like, wait, this character in Monkeys is based off of Frankenfurter. Oh, my God, this is so insane, because before that moment, I had no idea. Yes, his name is Ivankov. He is a revolutionary.
He fights against the world, the corrupted world government, and he basically lives on an island full of men in dresses who are free to express themselves as who they are. Man, that is so, that's so Frankenfurter coded. Yeah, it's, like, called the Peachy Kingdom. Oh, my God, it's so cute.
He's, like, their queen. They call her Queen Ivankov. Her name is Eva. They call her that.
If you don't want to say Ivankov, they call her Eva, which is, oh, my God, it's so amazing. She lives in, like, when we first meet her, she, like, is in a prison, because she's a revolutionary. So, like, she's in, like, a prison floor just partying with the other, like, she's just partying with the other inmates, and it's great. God, so we can definitely tell that Frankenfurter definitely has made an impact in culture.
Oh, definitely, definitely. There are so many cultural references to Rocky Horror, even within Rocky Horror, so many references to, like, 50s movies, and especially that we hear in Science, which are double features, so many movies are mentioned, but also, like, King Kong and Fay Wray, obviously, the whole movie is a reference to Frankenstein. Yeah. And so many, like you were saying, Fez from that 70s show references, um, he dresses up as Frankenstein.
And they're like, what are you wearing? He's like, what do you mean, what am I wearing? Like, why would you even question that? Literally, like, why are you questioning?
Do you not know who I am? Yes, and then also, my favorites, I love the Glee episode of, oh, the Rocky Horror Glee episode. That is amazing. I love Glee as it is.
You know where I'm from, though? Apparently, there's a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode of parodying the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Great, educate them young. Yeah, because it's Mickey and Minnie, you know, they're driving in their little Mickey car, and they get, like, there's a vampire, they, like, ran out of gas, and they go to this vampire's castle.
Obviously, they're not going to have the exact, like, themes go for go for Rocky Horror Picture Show. But, like, yeah, it's like them in their little car, they get stuck in the rain, they have to go to a castle for help, and it's like, all these vampires in a castle, and stuff like that. It's really funny. Oh, my God, that's so funny.
Because, obviously, the clear references are like, well, yeah, that 70s show perks of being wallflower Gleeve, but I did not know about Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is out here parodying and referencing the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Oh, that's so, so iconic. And the, going back to, um, Frankenberger and how he wears his prom necklace fishnets corset, the depiction of queerness and sexuality was so groundbreaking, I feel, for the time.
Oh, my God, totally. First of all, man in makeup and fishnets is already in itself extremely groundbreaking. I mean, you could even say even now, people would have a f*** it now if they ever saw that. Yeah, because literally they made in 1975, because even though the stage production was so popular in London and in the U.S., after they made the film, it flopped.
Yeah. Because people were like, they weren't about it. But then when they transferred it to, like, midnight showings, that's where the right audience found the film. The Freaks of the Night.
Exactly, it was the Freaks of the Night that made Rocky Horror into what it is, because that was in the film, and just how raw and unapologetic Frankenfurter is in his sexuality, and how Brad and Janet go through their transformations of everything, even though Brad is, like, pretty traumatized and all that. He's like, ooh, like, when he sings the most of my world, he's like, help me, mommy. But Janet is like, she becomes... She's loving it.
She thrives in it. She embraces it. I mean, listen, I can't imagine what life was like for women in the 70s, because we are very blessed enough to live in a time where, even though women are still looked down upon and we are still in the minority group, we have all the freedom in the world to be whoever we want and to choose to be with whoever we want or to be with whoever we don't want. So, you know, the fact that I can't imagine what it's like to be a woman in the 70s, where you have the stigma of you need to get married, you need to have kids, you need to be a housewife.
So I can't imagine when you're presented with this opportunity in this castle full of freaks where, like, we don't care what you do, like, I can't imagine how much you would thrive in an environment like that as a woman. Exactly, because they, Brad and Janet, before they arrive at Frankfort's castle, they are the heterosexual standard. They represent that heteronorativity as a culture, and how, like you were saying, you're expected to get married and everything. That's why they show them being newly engaged at the beginning of the film.
But yeah, you're introduced to this place that is so accepting. You could be whoever you want to be. You are introduced to this new form of expression, and she's like, okay, I'm kind of loving this. I'm doing it.
yeah and she just really transforms into into this new being almost this new woman and it just really shows the sexual liberation that rocky had actually ended up giving to a lot of people because through these showings you dress up express your sexuality have fun it gives you a place where you could be whoever you want to be despite whatever the culture may be totally god it's just it's such a fun film i love the music the music is absolutely my favorite dam curry is such he has such stage presence literally takes over the whole screen like i wasn't even paying attention to anybody else when he's on screen like he just has such presence and he's just so like god he's so iconic he's so diva he's so he's so fierce he is just seeing him perform and sing iconic just the anticipation oh my gosh i love it he's so god he's amazing i tim curry man just what what a guy he's so just so diverse and so what's the word he has so much range in his acting oh my god yeah yeah like don't even get me started on tim curry's range just how he can go from this and this and this god i mean it is kind of upsetting now that he's immobilized but man what a guy man that doesn't take away from anything else that he's done though and i'm so happy that rocky horror has withstood the test of time and is still such a relevant part of our culture because it deserves that recognition it totally all of the actors the creators directors everybody deserves all of the recognition because they although they have so much fun during the filming and everything they put so much work into it totally and you see that you see that love and dedication in the film and through like tim curry's performance how he's just so so vibrant so extravagant and you can't take your eyes off of him exactly and oh my gosh the music too like you were saying i listen to the soundtrack so so much on repeats there's not like a skippable song literally god i'm just a sweet transvestite from transsexual transylvania so iconic god oh my gosh i love it so much yeah i feel like even if somebody hasn't watched rocky horror picture show they know rocky horror picture show they know the red lips they know the outfit they know tim curry i mean i'm pretty sure they know transvestite transsexual too like that's like probably one of the most iconic songs if you don't know one you know that one exactly and it honestly surprises me though how many people at least don't think that they know it because when i've told so many people about my my senior seminar project they haven't they think they haven't heard of rocky horror before even though i'm sure they have they recognize the lips they would recognize the music but i feel like mainly it's people around our age yeah who aren't as familiar with it even though it's still so present in our culture with the showings and everything yeah it's really about like finding the right crowd but it is still such a cult classic it really is it's just it's up there with the many many movies that are like considered classics that are considered like monumental to pop culture and stuff like that i mean i can't imagine how many people i mean like we're just saying fez doesn't have his rocky horror like everyone their mom knew who rocky horror was in the 90s and the 70s and the 80s like pretty sure 2000s too i mean it's time and on obviously the movie probably i mean i don't want to say it died down but it definitely kind of went into the background it kind of went into hiding a lot of people didn't really start watching it because you know there's also the stigma around musicals oh musicals are annoying there's no need for musicals whatever whatever but i mean it's amazing it's great it's still very prominent now in time stuff like that there's so many people who know rocky horror who love rocky horror who love tim curry who love god oh my god i'm forgetting janet's actress's name susan sarandon susan sarandon what an icon what a diva she already too i love her so much she's such a great actress i mean it's just such a great film with so many great actors and actresses that it definitely stands the test of time and it's just such a good film and that even though like people our age don't really might not know it they see it in media they see it in pop culture so like it's almost like even though it's not as recognized it's always going to be there and it's always going to be in our media and i love that exactly and i i love that for the film because it should be something that withstands the test of time in the future as well and like you said whether people realize it or not rocky horror is in their media that they're consuming so many films and shows reference rocky horror because it is so iconic and monumental for it being the musical and the film that it is whether you want to call it a movie musical or anything but yeah we need to destigmatize musicals because this that's what this podcast that's on my side that's what this is about musicals are amazing i feel like another thing is that a lot of people say musicals are like inherently gay which i feel like i mean some kind of are yeah and what's wrong with that exactly there's nothing wrong with that let people have their space man exactly you guys have car movies and horse movies let the gays have musicals exactly let us have it please and of course rocky is a very gay queer film openly and that's that's really what i love about it especially considering the time that it was produced and made in but it's just so unapologetic yeah and i love that that's so amazing i mean listen anime just started getting its flowers like early 2020 i mean if you ask anybody ask me in like fifth grade what i thought about anime i would have told you that it was weird it was gross because i mean you know that's the thing that anime was getting anime people were saying that anime wasn't cool anime was nothing but you know people yelling you know girls with large bosoms just bouncing around you know people were saying that there was no real plot you know ask me in eighth grade i would have told you that anime was the coolest thing in the world and that everybody and their mom just started watching it i mean yeah anime just started getting its flowers but you know now that it has it's gained an audience that kind of criticizes it in a way where people can almost no longer start to freely express themselves i mean um people call it the great shift um so you know in 2020 and 2021 when tiktok started really popular you know people were bored in quarantine what do you do you turn to japanese cartoons and you know i mean that's great i thought it was amazing that a lot of people started turning to anime and started watching anime because it is cool it is amazing it does deserve its flowers i mean there's so many amazing animes with that are just so not only visually stunning but with such amazing touching stories that i just have made it have made a presence in this world i mean like like with musicals with rocky horror picture show i guarantee you there's so many anime references in your media that you're consuming you just don't know literally anytime you see somebody with blonde spiky hair you know exactly who it's referencing so i mean listen that's what we're doing here we're pulling away the stigma we're getting deep in anime and musical we're letting the weirdos be weirdos here yes and that's that's what it's all about let the weird shine in you exactly it's we're not here to hide anymore we're here to we're here to talk about it freely on radio exactly we are here to to tell people be yourself love the animes that you love love the musicals that you love don't let anybody shine you yeah don't let anybody tell you otherwise exactly hey well thank you guys for listening thank you so much for being here with us this is the pilot of um the college exchange um where casey recommends me musicals and i recommend casey's animes and we talk and this was the college exchange thank you very much for listening to this wxav 88.3 fm podcast be sure to visit our website wxav.com for more information on your escape from ordinary radio