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11 comments:
Do you plan on saying anything about I Am Legend? Because I haven't heard spoilers about it yet, but I can't imagine Hollywood not changing the ending and fundamentally FUBAR'ing half the themes of the book.
I don't think this has been mentioned here yet, but when Lost returns it will be moved to Thursday for the time being. By taking Grey's spot I guess they hope it will bring new fans to the show.
Christian- I saw the movie but have not read the book but from people who have read it and seen it, I hear they are not much alike at all.
Ok, how would you guys define a 'Cult Movie'? My friend Zac's wife asked this question and we were unable to give her a satisfacotry answer. Also, is it possible for a 'Cult Movie' to become a mainstream movie?
Self-pluggery:
I have contributed exactly four lines to the online annotations by Jess Nevins of "The Black Dossier." Dig it!
http://www.shsu.edu/~lib_jjn/dossier.html
(I have notes for:
Page 16, Panel 5
Page 49
Page 53
Page 103)
Scott: Well first of all a cult movie is not like a western, or sci-fi, or a noir, which are theoretically value neutral. To say a movie is a cult movie is a kind of compliment -- it indicates a large enough audience likes it to matter, and it indicates that, like a cult, the audience didn't just think it is pretty good -- they love it, to the point of watching it over and over. Also like a cult the audience for the film is small, because the film failed in the mainstream, either because not enough people liked it or because it had too small a distribution, or got forgotten about in some bin for decades. A cult movie cannot be a mainstream movie I would think, but it kind of depends if by "mainstream" you mean intended for a mainstream audience, or loved by a mainstream audience. If you mean intended for a mainstream audience, but which failed to get that mainstream audience to like it, then it could survive as a cult film. But I think if you are talking about a movie that a mainstream audience loved the world "cult" is not going to work. Cults that are embraced by the mainstream stop being called cults and start being called religions.
"Back to the Future" is my favorite religion-film. :)
I think the definition that I gave at the time was, quite simply, "A movie that has a small, but devoted audience who don't just like the movie but LOVE it" (a simplified version of your definition)
Ok, by becoming mainstream, can a cult movie become of enough notoriety that it becomes to a certain extent "Mainstream", the example Sara gave was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Her logic being, quite simply, "If my mom knows about it, it can't be a cult movie" She also said "Couldn't Star Wars be a cult movie: sure, a lot of people like it... but it does have a very small dedicated group who like it a lot more and watch the movie repeatedly..." (in this case I suppose it wouldn't be a cult so much as a very devote sect of a mainstream religion, i.e. what Snake Handlers are to Pentecostal Holiness)
Of course, I would still argue that with Rocky Horror there is a greater disparity in the people who love it and those that hate/don't get it... with very little in between.
But what about a film like Mad Max? This started out as a cult film then became the first part of a big budget franchise? Does Mad Max maintain Cult Status even as Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome are mainstream films? Don't some consider Road Warrior a cult film as well?
I think it's safe to assume you aren't the only one worshipping at the alter of McFly. (And I don't mean the really, really horrible band.)
And I was, willingly, spoiled the ending to the bastardization of I Am Legend, and Jesus Christ, it sounds like a solid stinker.
Anyway, to quell my anger (or redirect it,) I've been watching/listening to Bill Hicks again.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1366476727111157120&hl=en
I posted one of one of my comic stories over at Comic Space. I wrote the script - but the art was created by an artist in Brazil. It's CGI art created with programs such as Poser and the like.
It has kung fu, a talking tiger and Pei Mei the White Hermit in it. What's not to love?
Comic Space
I would think the simplified definition of cult movie works ("A movie that has a small, but devoted audience who don't just like the movie but LOVE it"), but it should add that the movie is either not very well-known or liked by a mainstream audience. I remember an issue of Entertainment Weekly a few years ago that was about cult movies, and they had The Shawshank Redemption on there, which they included because it initially failed at the box office. But that's a movie that just about everyone has seen (doesn't it play weekly on TBS?), and it was nominated for an Oscar for best picture, for god's sake! Even if a movie initially failed, there's a point where it ceases being a cult movie. Office Space is another example; it may have been a cult movie at first, but it got to be such a mainstream hit that it doesn't fit anymore. And then there are the ones that were critically dismissed but grew a cult following, like Showgirls. And Rocky Horror seems like a special case, in that many people have seen it, but it has gained a weird following where people dress up like the characters and act out scenes while the movie is playing in theaters; it might deserve its own term, like "mainstream cult movie" or something.
So I generally think a cult movie has to be little-known, or not actually seen by many people. We probably don't have many these days, since it's easy to watch everything that comes out. Probably most of the ones that really apply in modern times are foreign films that are hard to find in the U.S., like Battle Royale or Ken Park.
Also, I finally finished reading the Black Dossier, and I did a review of it last night. Now I can finally get around to reading other people's reviews and joining whatever discussion still lingers about the book.
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