The Rocky Horror (Picture) Show: parodia camp del gotico tra Mary Shelley, J. B. Priestley e James Whale

The theatre play The Rocky Horror Show (1973) by Richard O’Brien and then the film adaptation The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) by Jim Sharman can be considered as two milestone in musical theatre/film history. For their themes and structure, they represent the highest expression of the sexual revolution of the late 60s and the 70s, becoming an icon of the movements for the sexual freedom. The success of the musical is due to its capacity of being an enormous parody of both literary and film references. The first clear reference is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the film adaptation by James Whale. However, less analysed it the relation with the novel Benighted (1927) by John B. Priestly and the adaptation, again by Whale, The Old Dark House (1932), that seems to be the real source of inspiration for O’Brien. The paper will analyse this relation, focusing its attention on the elements that have created the “Rocky Horror Show liturgy” and on the references of the parody, and proposing a vision of O’Brien’s work as a meta-parody.Lo spettacolo teatrale The Rocky Horror Show (1973) di Richard O’Brien e, successivamente, l’adattamento cinematografico The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) di Jim Sharman possono essere considerate due pietre miliari del musical. Per temi e struttura, essi rappresentano la massima espressione della rivoluzione sessuale che va a cavalli tra gli anni '60 e '70 ed emblema del movimento di libertà sessuale. Il successo del musical risiede nella presa in giro degli stereotipi del gotico sia letterario che cinematografico, creando una enorme, irriverente parodia. Se il riferimento più evidente è il Frankenstein di Mary Shelley e la versione cinematografica di James Whale, meno analizzato è il rapporto con Benighted (1927) by John B. Priestley e la pellicola The Old Dark House (1932) sempre di Whale e adattata dal romanzo di Priestley. Proprio questa risulta, infatti, vera fonte di ispirazione per il lavoro di O’Brien, piuttosto che il Frankestein. Il contributo analizzerà questo rapporto, focalizzando la sua attenzione sugli elementi della “liturgia del Rocky Horror Show”, sui riferimenti in parodia e proponendo una visione dell’opera di O’Brien come una meta-aprodia

Impact of Patient-Clinical Team Secure Messaging on Communication Patterns and Patient Experience: Randomized Encouragement Design Trial

BACKGROUND: Although secure messaging (SM) between patients and clinical team members is a recommended component of continuous care, uptake by patients remains relatively low. We designed a multicomponent Supported Adoption Program (SAP) to increase SM adoption among patients using the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for primary care. OBJECTIVE: Our goals were to (1) conduct a multisite, randomized, encouragement design trial to test the effectiveness of an SAP designed to increase patient engagement with SM through VHA\u27s online patient portal (My HealtheVet [MHV]) and (2) evaluate the impact of the SAP and patient-level SM adoption on perceived provider autonomy support and communication. Patient-reported barriers to SM adoption were also assessed. METHODS: We randomized 1195 patients at 3 VHA facilities who had MHV portal accounts but had never used SM. Half were randomized to receive the SAP, and half served as controls receiving usual care. The SAP consisted of encouragement to adopt SM via mailed educational materials, proactive SM sent to patients, and telephone-based motivational interviews. We examined differences in SM adoption rates between SAP recipients and controls at 9 months and 21 months. Follow-up telephone surveys were conducted to assess perceived provider autonomy support and self-report of telephone communication with clinical teams. RESULTS: Patients randomized to the SAP had significantly higher rates of SM adoption than the control group (101/595, 17.0% vs 40/600, 6.7%; P \u3c .001). Most adopters in the SAP sent their first message without a motivational interview (71/101, 70.3%). The 10-percentage point difference in adoption persisted a full year after the encouragement ended (23.7%, 142/600 in the SAP group vs 13.5%, 80/595 in the control group, P \u3c .001). We obtained follow-up survey data from 49.54% (592/1195) of the participants. SAP participants reported higher perceived provider autonomy support (5.7 vs 5.4, P=.007) and less telephone use to communicate with their provider (68.8% vs 76.0%, P=.05), compared to patients in the control group. Patient-reported barriers to SM adoption included self-efficacy (eg, not comfortable using a computer, 24%), no perceived need for SM (22%), and difficulties with portal password or login (17%). CONCLUSIONS: The multicomponent SAP was successful in increasing use of SM 10 percentage points above standard care; new SM adopters reported improved perceptions of provider autonomy support and less use of the telephone to communicate with their providers. Still, despite the encouragement and technical assistance provided through the SAP, adoption rates were lower than anticipated, reaching only 24% at 21 months (10% above controls). Common barriers to adoption such as limited perceived need for SM may be more challenging to address and require different interventions than barriers related to patient self-efficacy or technical difficulties. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02665468; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02665468

L’italianità dell’arte attoriale attraverso i trattati

Recensione di: Anna Sica, La drammatica-metodo italiano. Trattati normativi e testi teorici, Milano, Mimesis Edizioni, 2013, 508 p., ISBN: 9788857517964, € 36,00