Fan Culture @ Swarthmore

I’ve been meaning to ask a question about The Rocky Horror Picture Show and wasn’t quite sure where it fit on the blog, so I figured I would just make a brief post.

After watching the film and experiencing a less extreme version of the whole callback phenomenon last week, I was wondering how this interaction with the text began. Are the callbacks something that have always existed with the film? I was just curious because I don’t think I have ever heard of this type of participation and interaction with other films, so I was wondering if this phenomenon was particular to Rocky Horror or a part of a broader fan practice that I was just not aware of. If it is particular to Rocky Horror, then, I am also curious as to what it is about the film that inspires this sort of fan participation when other cult films have not attracted the same type of response. Can anyone help me out?