Julia Dyer, Kate Gustafson, Ivria Dubs
Cinema is a place of passion for many people. It is rare to find someone who doesn’t have a favorite movie that they’ve watched over and over again. This passion, however, is taken to a whole new level when related to the subject of “cult films”. Cult films are unable to be defined as a specific genre, simply because they cover such a wide variety of films. Some movies are controversial in their subject matter, while others are simply loved for their “badness”. The difficulty in defining a cult film comes with the fine line between a true cult film and a movie that just has a very enthusiastic audience. So, how do we define the cult film? It is one that typically exists outside the mainstream cinema. Modes of exhibition in particular, help us to set the cult film apart. Through midnight showings and other alternative modes of exhibition, cult films develop a highly dedicated and unique following. These screenings are often interactive and differ extravagantly from a weeknight movie taken in at your local multiplex. The singular conditions of cult screenings are indicative of the community that cult films create. Audiences are often vehemently passionate about these films, and exhibit “cultish” behavior. The audiences that continue the tradition of a cult film differ from the fans associated with movies like Twilight, for instance, in that they exist as a sort of subculture, whereas Twilight fans become a tool of the mass media. What’s intriguing to us is this question of what is so appealing about these films that they become cult films. What is the attraction? It differs from film to film, but these films are all related through this notion of subculture, and the feeling of membership to a unique community. Our exhibition explores the attractions within cult films that make them so beloved as well as the particular conditions of their audiences.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1971) is commonly considered the classic cult film, shown regularly in midnight screenings in ramshackle theaters and college campuses across the country. I will argue that it is indeed the prototypical cult film, and that its appeal is based in its delightful eccentricity. The originally provocative subject matter elicited a response and eventually a subculture community.
-Julia
The Twilight movie has arguably one of the most obsessive and ridiculed fan bases out there, however despite it’s popularity it does not reach a cult film status. The fandom created by the movie is a result of a mainstream media effort that is so profitable a movie entirely devoted to moking it was successfully created.
-Kate
The characteristic spectacle within Kung Fu cult films facilitates a precise dialogue between the filmmaker and audience, embodied through the creation of the Kung Fu parody film. The parody transforms the viewer into the filmmaker, creating a chain of interaction emanating from the spectacles unique to Kung Fu films.
-Ivria
The Cinema of Attractions 