Rocky

The puppy mill as a storyline has a much smaller part within The Shower Song, but it’s an important one of course. Golden retriever puppies and Rocky, an adult golden, are all inhumanely caged in some sort of backyard, thirsty and sweating from the harsh sun. Despite being imprisoned in a small crate and breathing heavily, Rocky is a happy dog at heart. He shakes the cage he’s in and barks for help, desperate to be free. “Help me! I’m thirsty!”

Character RockyActorGolden (Director's Dog)Favourite DishTuna

In the shower song where nothing goes wrong, a couple carries Rocky together and walk away from the scene – a powerful moment of rescue. The puppy mill owner is counting his money. This scene carries a more significant meaning within the larger LGBTQ context of the film of course, and serves an educational purpose.

We see Rocky again in the paradisiacal red planet, carried there by The Shower Song spacecraft, and carrying on, living a happy life with a caring adoptive family including Little José. To learn more about the meaning of the planet, we’d essentially have to tell you about another significant character: the alien.

P.S. The drawings are pre-production sketches that were based on the director’s vision and inspiration. In function, they were a guiding force that helped carve the filmed scenes’ composition. At times, you might notice discrepancies between the sketch and the actual scene, and this happens for various reasons: some things look better a certain way in practice, limited resources limit the possibilities or even, the director has honed the idea, or decided to change the meaning entirely. For most of The Shower Song though, the scenes have come out spot-on identical to the vision.