Category Archives: Kinesthetic

Body movements

Hebrew Death Hands

Nationality: Israeli
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Israel
Performance Date: April 29, 2015
Primary Language: Hebrew
Language: English

Yon is a student at USC who I am close friends with. He is originally from Israel, and this is his first year in America. He speaks with a thick Israeli accent, and jumped at the opportunity to share his culture’s folklore with me.

 

Performance: “Ok so we have this thing where you cross your hands like this.” Yon then places his hands out, palms towards himself, and overlaps his lightly spread fingers at a diagonal angle. “It spells death in hebrew. Ma-vet. Yeah. The lines in your hands SPELL mavet, which means death.”

And you do it why? because it’s creepy? Because it’s cool?

“Yeah, we just do it.”

 

Response: This was a very interesting piece of folklore. When you hold your hands at a certain angle, the creases and lines on your palms spell out the Hebrew word for death. Yon didn’t seem to really understand why I was asking why they did it, he said that they simply do. I think this is an example of a cool piece of identity which those who speak hebrew have with the human body. If I looked down at my hands from a certain angle and saw the english word “death” I would think it was pretty cool too.

Cross Yourself

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Mexico
Performance Date: April 30, 2015
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Bernie is a very close friend of mine from Mexico. Bernie left Mexico for the first time to study at USC. He loves to talk about his culture, and speaks with a thick Mexican accent.

 

 

 

Performance: “Another thing that is pretty big for Mexico and that my parents always taught me, related to Catholicism is that every time that you um pass by a church either by car or walking if you don’t do…umm…the cross? (he crosses himself to see if I understand) The cross. Then you’re going to have bad luck. My Mom would always tell me that you gotta do the cross every time you pass a church, if not it would be against your faith and bad luck and everything.”

 

 

Response: Crossing one’s self is common practice for Catholics, but i find it interesting that beyond simply being a “bad christian” that Bernie was taught it was actually bad luck. It is interesting when religious practices are sort of hybridized with “luck” which is generally a folk belief tied to folk traditions, rituals, and gestures.

Rocky Horror Live Picture Show

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Performance Date: April 25-26, 2015
Primary Language: English
The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Nuart Theater

The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Nuart Theater

The Rocky Horror movie is known for its cult following, but every theater does the traditions a little differently. I had not seen the film before I went to the Nuart Theater in Los Angeles, where they do the Rocky Horror Live Picture Show nearly every Saturday at midnight.

Before you’re even inside, Theater employees periodically shout to get the crowd’s attention and explain some rules. There is one line for guests of the actors and another for everyone else.

“Hello, bitches. Welcome to the Rocky Horror Live Picture Show. If you are easily offended, fuck you. This movie will probably offend you, so fuck off.  There are some things you cannot bring into the theater. No rice, no toast, I’m not trying to clean that up. There is no photography as the lips appear on the screen. Also, no illegal substances. So snort it, smoke it, shoot it, drink it, in the alley back there before you come inside. If this is your first time drinking, do not throw up in my theater. We will make you clean it up and we will laugh at you. We have gone 6 days without any puking. My goal is a year.”

Throughout this speech, which varies from employee, and also changes a little based on the group they are shouting at, another person makes gestures, like a flight attendant, that align with the employee’s words. The employee who gave the speech to our section of the line outside the theater took off her jacket and indicated her lips tattoo on her shoulder, for example, when explaining no photography of the lips scene.

It was unclear outside the theater who was an employee and who was just a regular attendee, because most people wore some sort of costume. To fit in, as pictured, my friends and I dressed up as characters from the film. They sold “prop bags” for $3 because it is an “audience participation film”.  In a rainy scene, someone squirted water at the audience, and those with props knew to put newspaper over their heads like the character Janet does. There is also a party scene where the audience members know to use their noisemakers and another scene where they have plastic medical gloves to snap. The employee who specifically mentioned no rice (other theaters throw it during a wedding scene) and no toast (which people throw when one of the characters makes a toast), encouraged those in line to buy these far less messy props.

There are a number of rituals before the film even begins. While in line, people who have seen the film ask if anyone has never seen the live show before. They usually stick out and you can tell, but with us, we were in costume so we sort of blended in.

Those who have never seen the live picture show, even if you have seen the film, are dubbed “virgins” and marked with a big red V on their cheeks in lipstick.

Before the movie, but inside the theater, music plays and everyone dances for awhile until it stops. Even audience members go on stage and dance, too.

Then, they call up the “Virgins” back to the stage for the “Virgin Sacrifice”. This entails the actors encircling the virgins and thrusting around them, while music plays.

Three guys and three girl “virgins” then are chosen from this group for the second part of the sacrifice. In this case, they were volunteers. The announcer, had them all introduce themselves, say their age, and their father’s name to the audience. One of those chosen was turning 17 that day and he made a lot of underage, don’t have sex with her, jokes to the audience. He also said “If your dad is dead, say his name anyway, that’s okay, it’s actually funnier that way.”

After they’ve all introduced themselves, the next part of the initiation, which they all did despite hesitation from several, was they had to call out their father’s name while imitating their mother having an orgasm. All of this in front of a theater full of movie-goers into a microphone, while on stage. The Virgins got really into it, the audience cheered them on, and the guy and girl who got the most cheers stayed on the stage while the others sat down.

The final part of the sacrifice, is these two winners were moved around and positioned by the actors to look like a sexual act was occurring. Both Virgins were fully clothed; the guy winner, who was older and a little on the heavier side, lay on the floor of the stage on his back. The girl winner, who was in this case, young and dressed in lingerie, straddled him standing. Rocky actors and theater regulars came to the stage and lifted both of them into the air, timing it so they didn’t really touch, but it looked intimate. They did the lift three times, three thrusts, and that was it, now they were no longer Virgins, and any of those who were before the sacrifice were no longer.

Next, everyone with a birthday that night was called on stage, and the announcer led a rendition of Happy Birthday, Fuck You, which the whole audience joined in on to the tune of the Happy Birthday to You song.

After all of this, about 70 minutes after the advertised start time of the movie, it started.

The film that is a big part of the folklore is cited below, the 1975 cult classic. The Live Picture Show indicates that the movie is in fact played in the theater on the big screen, but live actors (in the case of the Nuart Theater, all of whom are volunteer and fund their own costumes) act it out, mouthing the words, in front of the screen. During long pauses or before certain lines, these actors (when they are not acting) and regular attendees (the cult following) shout at the screen. They shout questions or phrases that the subsequent line answers or responds to, often employing sexual humor. They also harp on each character for their flaws, particularly Janet who is frequently called “a slut” and Brad an “asshole”.

Below is an example of an audience callout.

[“Janet, are you a slut?”]
Janet: Yes.

 

For a typical audience participation script:

http://www.rockyhorror.htmlplanet.com/about.html

However, even these callouts vary depending on current events, etc. Many in the audience have seen this movie so frequently that they can adjust their callouts accordingly while still matching with the line.  For example, I heard a few callouts about Justin Beiber, who wasn’t even born when the movie came out.  For the line above, the callout could be [“Does Beiber take it in the ass?”]  Janet: Yes.

What is perceived as the “best” callouts, gaging general audience response, are the more offensive, the better.

 

Observer’s Thoughts:

It was definitely a right of passage experience in terms of the “Virgin Sacrifice” but the other rituals are still important to those who have come dozens of times. Targeting the “virgins” was interesting  because a lot of the actors and regulars seemed pretty odd to me and I think it was cool that this weekly ritual has sort of created a space for them in which they are the normal ones, in fact the “cool”, “experienced” and “in-the-know” ones. These rituals, like most rites of passage, serve to transition people into this “insider group”.

Before the screening, several people indicated they had seen the live picture show more than 100 times and many more, over 50! The audience participation, particularly the callouts or callbacks, are interesting in that they are all derogatory or horrible offensive. They even specify again, when you’re in the theater, that they will offend you and name specific groups. But it is accepted, because they don’t target a specific group with the callouts they target everyone- homophobes and homosexuals, for example.

The one that stood out to me was someone called out something about Sandy Hook, which I did not find funny, but it did not visibly upset anyone in the theater. I think under the cover of the movie and darkness, in this environment, people are a lot more comfortable saying things they wouldn’t normally. And humor is definitely one coping mechanism.

For a recorded version of this folklore, which inspired the cult following and traditions, see the film:

The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Dir. Jim Shardman. Perf. Barry Botswick and Tim Curry. 1975. Film.

The Beaver Call

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Arizona
Performance Date: April 29, 2015
Primary Language: English

In high school on the baseball team, we had this pregame ritual … and we did this thing and it changes from year to year, um, um, on what it’s called. But, usually it’s called the Beaver Call.

We get in a circle behind the dugout and we do this… well my senior year, we tried to change it to the rat call for this guy, “Rat”, and uh.. there are talks of my brother being in the middle next year and they’d call it the Budde Call (pronounced like booty call).

But basically you just jump up and down like idiots and do this chant.

It goes:

Beaver 1, Beaver All

Let’s all do the Beaver Call

(makes noise with mouth)

Beaver 2, Beaver 3

Let’s all climb the Beaver Tree

(mimes climbing a tree)

Beaver 4, Beaver 5

Let’s all do the Beaver Jive

(dances)

Beaver  6, Beaver 7

Let’s all go to Beaver Heaven

(points up, dances more)

Beaver 8, Beaver 9

Stop! It’s  BEAVER TIME!

(freaks out, dances/jumps crazily)

Was the Beaver your school mascot?

No.

Why did you do this?

Tradition. It was just like every year we did it- it’s a pregame warmup. And it hypes you up for the game.

How long has it been a part of your team?

No idea… well beyond my knowledge.

How do you learn it?

Just from older guys on the team before it. Just Varsity does it. So, sort of yeah, a rite of passage.

 

Context: 

I asked my friend to tell me if he had any baseball rituals because I knew he played in high school. This was the only one he had, but he let me record him doing it while he got ready for a formal event, which I thought was very funny. It was supposed to be a one on one collection, but his roommate, a separate informant, was in the room and interjected that he had also done the Beaver Call except at his camp.

Thoughts:

Sports rituals, especially ones that are only for the Varsity team or older players, also seem to be rites of passage. I wouldn’t be surprised if kids on the JV and freshman teams also know the Beaver Call but know not to do it until they are in that inner group and have the honor to dance about.

Also, it was interesting how perfectly he remembered it and told it without embarrassment.

 

 

 

Troy Camp Pine Cone Dedication

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: California
Performance Date: April 20, 2015
Primary Language: English

On the very last day of camp we do this thing called Pine Cone dedication. Every cabin finds the biggest, best pinecone they can and they all bring them to the campfire that night.

So…20 cabins each have their own pine cone and we bring them to campfire, um and so every cabin goes up one at a time with the kids and cabin counselors and all the other counsleors that like that cabin and we go around and, um, say who we want to dedicate the pine cone to.

So “the kids in the cabin” or “this counselor who we love” or “blue team” or anyone who we want to dedicate to um and all the counselors who are up with that cabin, they go down the line and they reveal their real name.  And a lot of the time, the kids don’t remember it even though they always try to guess it. But they don’t call you that, a lot of the time, ‘cus they’ve been calling me Diglett all week

So we say, “Here people call me Diglett, but when I’m home and my mom gets really mad at me she calls me Andie.”

So all the counselors reveal their real names and all the kids go “I KNEW it” but they totally didn’t (laughs).

So …we go through all of the cabins…all 20 cabins do that.

And then you throw the pine cone in the fire when you’re done. And we have this song that you sing and then everyone’s done and goes back to there seat. And we have this song called Purple Lights and two counselors come up with a guitar and everyone sings it with them.

And we have this special clap that we do and everyone goes like this (shakes hands back and forth- like jazz hands) and what we’re doing is like reflecting the fire back at each other. We say we’re reflecting the light of the fire back to our friends.

The counselors lead the song so they sing a line, and then the kids sing a line and that’s how you learn it.

Context: The informant, my roommate, is very involved with Troy Camp and was eager to share some of what makes the organization so special. This ritual takes place every summer, but this was the first time she had explained it to me. I already knew, however, that they all have “camp names” and hers is Diglett. Each name has a story, usually embarrassing behind it.

Thoughts:  Troy Camp is such a tight-knit group and so it did not surprise me that they had a lot of traditions and rituals in their organization. This one, in particular, concludes the week of the actual camp very nicely.