Character Analysis: Columbia

Character Analysis: Columbia

By: Brian Cotnoir

     Very few films have fans as loyal and bizarre as the “Rocky Horror Picture”.  What started out as a stage show that combined the elements of Science-Fiction and B-Horror Movies, has since flourished into a large cult following.  The stage play/film contains countless memorable characters from the eccentric cross-dressing Mad Scientist Dr. Frank N. Furter to the good girl turned slut Janet Weiss.  Aliens, Clones, elaborate musical numbers, human dissection, Transvestites, you name it this film has it!  So, as you can imagine it was quite a difficult decision for me to decide on which memorable character from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” to do a Character Analysis on.  So I asked my friends which character I should write this article on, and at one point we had a 3-way tie, that was broken by one vote.  So here is my Character Analysis on Columbia from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.

CHARACTER: Columbia from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975)

Columbia is listed as “a groupie” in the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.  We know little about her except from what we she tells us in the musical numbers.  We are first introduced to her during the song the “Time Warp”.  It is during this song that we here—what I believe—is Columbia’s background story.  I believe the line the “Snake of a Guy” who gave her the “evil wink” is referring Dr. Frank N. Furter.  I think that Columbia followed Dr. Frank N. Furter’s up to his place, and that’s where she became a groupie, or “regular Frankie Fan” as she sang during the floor show.  She’s definitely more of a fan girl from the way she sings and acts around Dr. Frank N. Furter.  Though, she admits to at one point she “loved” Frank N. Furter, and that he used her and left her for Eddie.                           

    Columbia dresses in a flashy gold sequined hat and jacket, and is an accomplished tap dancer.  She introduces herself to the stranded travelers Brad Majors (A$$ Hole!) and his fiancée Janet Weiss (slut!) and tells them of how fortunate they are that they’ve been invited up to see Dr. Frank N. Furter’s laboratory and witness his latest and a greatest experiment.  Columbia isn’t as enthused about the Doctor’s creation, Rocky, as the others. Later we find out that after Dr. Frank N. Furter left her, Columbia was romantically involved with a man named Eddie; a motorcycle riding, saxophone playing bad boy.  Unfortunately, for Columbia, Dr. Frank N. Furter was just as interested in Eddie as she was, but he found Eddie very difficult to control so he extracted half of his brain to place in Rocky’s skull.  After Eddie escapes from the ice freezer and runs amuck in the laboratory, he is bludgeoned to death with an axe by Frank N. Furter.  Adding insult to injury, Frank N. Furter later tricks Columbia and the other guests into eating parts of Eddie’s body.  She also appears to have a close relationship with Magenta, a servant to Dr. Frank N. Furter. 

THE ACTRESS:

Columbia is played by an Australian performer named Nell Campbell (though she did go by her stage name “Little Nell” in the film).  She is fantastic in this role, ranging from flirty and bubbly to sad and angry.  Little Nell played the role of Columbia in the first ever stage production of the “Rocky Horror Show”.  So in 1975, she was asked to reprise the role for the film version.  She would appear in “Shock Treatment” the 1981 sequel to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” as Nurse Ansalong.  Besides that her only other notable film roles she had was in “The Killing Fields” (1984) and the 1990’s modernization of “Great Expectations” starring alongside great actors like Ethan Hawke, Robert DeNiro, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

She also recorded and released this in 1978

CHARACTER IS SIMILAR TO OR INSPIRED BY:

     As of this moment I can’t think of any characters Columbia is similar too.  I suppose if I had to stretch it I’d say she’s somewhat like The Painted Doll (played by singer Emilie Autumn) from “The Devils Carnival”.  Again, that is a very thin stretch of a comparison because “The Devils Carnival” has only been around for 2-years, and is slowly but surely gaining a cult-following like “Rocky Horror”.  But both characters are singers who are dedicated fans of their masters (Columbia is loyal to Dr. Frank N. Furter and The Painted Doll is loyal to Lucifer/The Devil).  Oh and you also have to admit that there other love interests are similar. Eddie from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and The Scorpion from “Devils Carnival” do look quite similar; they dress the same and they both sing.  Just something for you to ponder.

I think they are similar...

Don't you???

FATE OF THE CHARACTER:

Columbia gets turned into a stone statue along with Brad, Janet, Rocky, and Dr. Scott by Dr. Frank N. Furter, Riff Raff, and Magenta.  When she is “De-Medusa’d” she begins to sing and dance in Frank N. Furter’s stage show.  Before the show can reach its grand finale, the show is overtaken by Riff Raff and Magenta.  They inform Dr. Frank N. Furter that they are going to return to their beloved home planet of Transsexual-Transylvania, without the Doctor.  Riff Raff shoots Columbia, Dr. Frank N. Furter, and Rocky with a laser cannon that emits a beam of pure anti-matter, kill the three of them.  Columbia was an unfortunate bystander that was killed by a mad-man alien who had finally had enough.