Film Theory: Cult–Definition, Attributes, Elements
Cult film claims to irrational territory beyond good taste
Love beyond all reason.
Transgressive pleasure in blurring of genre forms.
Cult movie as supertext, lacking fixed limits and favoring “boundary crossings or territorial violations.”
It promotes both transgression and containment
It occupies a fragile place at the edge of the limit.
Cult film as adopted child. It was not destined from birth for its final form, but rather suffered a certain deviation from its natural causes.
Often a good film that was “different” or underappreciated, due to marketing and other reasons and was then rediscovered.
Cult also implies some kind of secrecy and knowledge that are hidden from the lay mass public.
A cult film is a preserve of a few.
A cult film should inspire people to go around, quoting it to each others, or generally inspire unreasonable devotion, long after the film’s initial release.
The tendency to read individual film slightly different, against the grain, emphasizing tone or mood, rather than narrative structure and closure.
Film Theory: Cult–Definition, Attributes, Elements
Research in progress, Dec 13, 2022
Film Theory: Cult–Definition, Attributes, Elements
Cult film claims to irrational territory beyond good taste
Love beyond all reason.
Transgressive pleasure in blurring of genre forms.
Cult movie as supertext, lacking fixed limits and favoring “boundary crossings or territorial violations.”
It promotes both transgression and containment
It occupies a fragile place at the edge of the limit.
Cult film as adopted child. It was not destined from birth for its final form, but rather suffered a certain deviation from its natural causes.
Often a good film that was “different” or underappreciated, due to marketing and other reasons and was then rediscovered.
Cult also implies some kind of secrecy and knowledge that are hidden from the lay mass public.
A cult film is a preserve of a few.
A cult film should inspire people to go around, quoting it to each others, or generally inspire unreasonable devotion, long after the film’s initial release.
The tendency to read individual film slightly different, against the grain, emphasizing tone or mood, rather than narrative structure and closure.