Why do we consider The Rocky Horror Picture Show's Frank-N-Furter to be a mad scientist? He seems so happy most of the time, what with all that singing. He's the world's happiest scientist after Neil deGrasse Tyson. Seriously, that guy exudes sunshine. (And yes, Neil, we know that isn't physically possible.)
Of course, Frank is mad in a different sense, like the Mad Hatter. He's mad because he's cray-cray, like his namesake Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankenstein or people who say "cray-cray."
Frank's nuts because he creates a monster from a presumably dead body, à la Dr. Frankenstein. And you remember how that ended.
But Frank didn't create his monster for the science of it. He created Rocky so that he could study every inch of his washboard abs in the bedroom. Can you imagine Dr. Frankenstein taking his monster to bed? Actually, no, we don't want to think about that at all.
Questions about Madness
- Is Frank insane?
- Do people go mad after hanging around with Frank? Or are they mad to want to hang out with him in the first place?
- How are Frank and rival scientist Dr. Scott similar? How are they different?
Chew on This
A little madness can be liberating. Brad and Janet are able to realize their true selves by letting themselves go a bit crazy.
Other people find Frank mad because he lives life the way he sees fit. He wouldn't consider himself mad; he would consider himself free and liberated.