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ENGL 4200

ENGL 4200. Cult Film. Syllabus.

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ENGL 4200

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  1. ENGL 4200 • Cult Film

  2. Syllabus

  3. Cult cinema by definition has a transgressive quality to it. As such, many of the films screened and discussed in this class contain drug references, violence, nudity, frank depictions of sexuality (including homosexuality/ bisexuality), and language that you may consider objectionable. If you cannot tolerate material of this kind, you should consider dropping this course now. Students will be expected to behave in an adult manner that is sensitive to the various views of your classmates. You are not required to like or approve of everything we watch or discuss, but you are expected to contribute to the discussion in a constructive and respectful manner.

  4. What is Cult Film?

  5. “Cult Filmshave limited but very special appeal. Cult films are usually strange, quirky, offbeat, eccentric, oddball, or surreal, with outrageous, weird, unique and cartoony characters or plots, and garish sets. They are often considered controversial because they step outside standard narrative and technical conventions. They can be very stylized, and they are often flawed or unusual in some striking way.” -from filmsite.org

  6. “A cult film refers to a movie that has a devoted following, perhaps undeserved by the movie’s quality, box office performance, or critical reviews. The cult film is often measured by its continued popularity in DVD sales or rentals, long after other popular films have lost their steam and are marked down for quick sale or remain collecting dust on the shelves of video stores.” -from wisegeek.org

  7. “Cult films are usually identified and valorized in far too vague a manner, precisely because they seem marginalized or eccentric in some way. Yet they are what they are--and they are valuable--because they are peculiar.” -from “Film and the Culture of Cult” by Timothy Corrigan, in The Cult Film Experience: Beyond All Reason

  8. “A cult film is a film with an active and lively communal following. Highly committed and rebellious in its appreciation, its audience regularly finds itself at odds with the prevailing cultural mores, displaying a preference for strange topics and allegorical themes that rub against cultural sensitivities and resist dominant politics. Cult films transgress common notions of good and bad taste, and they challenge genre conventions and coherent storytelling, often using intertextual references, gore, leaving loose ends, or creating a sense of nostalgia. They frequently have troublesome production histories, coloured by accidents, failures, legends, and mysteries that involve their stars and directors, and in spite of often-limited accessibility, they have a continuous market value and a long-lasting public presence.” -from The Cult Film Reader (p11)

  9. Cult film can typically be defined/ identified through four major elements: • Anatomy • Consumption • Political Economy • Cultural Status from The Cult Film Reader

  10. Anatomy elements and features of the film itself, such as content, style, format, and generic modes • innovation • badness • transgression • genre • intertextuality • loose ends • nostalgia • gore from The Cult Film Reader

  11. Consumption the way a film is received--by audiences, fans, and critics • active celebration • communion and community • liveness • commitment • rebellion • alternative canonization (paracinema) from The Cult Film Reader

  12. Political Economy physical/ financial conditions of the film’s presence--ownerships, intentions, promotions, channels of presentation, manner of exhibition • production • promotion • reception from The Cult Film Reader

  13. Cultural Status cultural context (ethical and political landscape, laws and regulations) and the manner in which a film interacts with/ counters this context • strangeness • allegory • cultural sensitivities • politics/ political atmosphere from The Cult Film Reader

  14. A selection of cult films: A Clockwork Orange Casablanca Repo Man Rocky Horror Picture Show Showgirls Blade Runner Star Trek franchise Evil Dead I & II Army of Darkness Heathers Repo: The Genetic Opera Rock N’ Roll High School The Warriors Superfly The Big Lebowski Pink Flamingos Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Reefer Madness Plan 9 From Outer Space Glen or Glenda Eraserhead The Wicker Man Dazed and Confused American Graffiti El Topo Night of the Living Dead Barbarella Times Square This is Spinal Tap Beyond the Valley of the Dolls Jubilee Texas Chainsaw Massacre What do these films have in common?

  15. Un Chien Andalou (1929)

  16. for next week: Read: Havis Chpaters 1 & 2 Cult Film Reader Editorial Intro, Introduction, and 1.2 “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” and the Midnight Movies handout on “Drugs”

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