The Rocky Horror Picture Show Love

The movie opens with the wedding of Brad and Janet's friends, and the groom suggests that Brad might be next. Love is in the air. But because Janet's saving herself for marriage, it's difficult to tell if Brad is interested in proposing because of love or because of lust.

Brad declares his love passionately for Janet in song. Who wouldn't want that? Plus, it shows that he's a little edgy by saying "dammit." He looks so milquetoast, he seems like the type of guy who would say "dang" and "sugar."

Eddie may be a zombie, but he's a sweet zombie, and he feels love. Yet Frank's reaction to Eddie suggests that "love" is an emotion that only zombies with half a brain should experience. He sees love as a defect.

Eddie's song is a throwback to a fifties-style rock 'n' roll that is outdated and old-fashioned to the other characters in the movie. Continuing our analysis from the previous quote, it is also how Frank feels about love: it is outdated and old-fashioned.

Columbia's adverbs here are quite important. In the next quote, she'll tell Frank that she loved him. But Eddie? She "very nearly" loved him. What was stopping her from flat-out using the L-word?

Columbia is fed up with the way Frank treats people who love him, and she delivers one of the longest monologues in the movie. It's surprising, considering what a minor character she is. And Frank does what you'd expect him to do: he turns her to stone and shuts her up.

In his penultimate number, Frank reveals that he has a complicated relationship with love. He always felt different and wanted to be someone else. Ever since, he has been very guarded with his emotions, to the point that he became callous and insensitive to others.

Columbia isn't the only one affected by Frank's coldness. It appears that Riff Raff wanted to be loved and accepted by Frank, too, but he never was. This slight ends up coming back to bite Frank, because Riff Raff has no qualms about killing him.