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B-movie as cult movie in the USA

A cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a movie that has acquired a cult following with a specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside small fanbases; however, there are exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences. Many cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become recognized as classics. Cult movies often become the source of a thriving, obsessive, and elaborate subculture of fandom, hence the analogy to cults. However, not every movie with a devoted fanbase is necessarily a cult movie. Usually, cult movies have limited but very special, noted appeal. Cult movies are often known to be eccentric, often do not follow traditional standards of mainstream cinema and usually explore topics not considered in any way mainstream – yet there are examples that are relatively normal. Many are often considered controversial because they step outside standard narrative and technical conventions [24].

A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of culture. A movie, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base. A common component of cult followings is the emotional attachment fans have with the object of the cult following, often identifying themselves and other fans as members of a community. Cult followings are also commonly associated with niche markets. Cult media are often associated with underground culture, and are considered too eccentric, bizarre, controversial or anti-establishment to be appreciated by the general public.

Many cult fans express a certain irony about their devotion. Sometimes, these cult followings cross the border to camp followings. Cult fans of director Ed Wood admire his movies not because they consider them to be excellent, but because they are so bad that they become funny and curiously fascinating [25]. The same phenomenon can be observed with things that are appreciated by a certain generation out of nostalgia or childhood memories. Fans may become involved in a subculture of fandom, either via conventions, online communities, or through activities such as writing series-related fiction, costume creation, replica prop and model building, or creating their own audio or video productions based around the formats and characters.

Some cults are only popular within a certain subculture. The movie “Woodstock” is especially loved within the hippie subculture. “A Clockwork Orange” has a cult following of punks. Certain mainstream icons can become cult icons in a different context for certain people. “Reefer Madness” was originally intended to warn youth against the use of marijuana, but due to its ridiculous plot and cheap look, it is now often watched by audiences consisting of pot-smokers and has gained a cult following.



Actor Bruce Campbell, who maintains a dedicated cult following for movies such as “The Evil Dead” trilogy, contrasted “mainstream movies” and “cult movies” by defining the former as “a movie that 1,000 people watch 100 times” and the latter as “a movie that 100 people watch 1,000 times” [27].

Many movies enter cult status because they may be seen as ridiculously awful, for example “Plan 9 from Outer Space” (1958) or “The Room” (2003). These movies fall into "so bad it's good" category of low-budget movies. The other examples include such financially fruitless and critically scorned movies as “Showgirls”, “Cool as Ice”, “Manos: The Hands of Fate”, “The Wicker Man” (2006 remake), “Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2”, and “Troll 2”, which have become inadvertent comedies to movie buffs [10].

In other cases, little-known or forgotten movies from the past are revived as cult movies, largely because they may be considered goofy and senseless by modern standards, with laughable special effects and corny plotlines. These include “Hobgoblins”, “Howard the Duck”, “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”, and “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies”.

Some horror-comedies cult movies like “The Toxic Avenger”, “Bad Taste”, aforementioned “Army of Darkness” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” purposely utilize elements from movies “so bad they're good” for comedic effect. This may be seen as related to the artistic style known as “camp”.

Many “so bad it’s good” movies became famous thanks to the Internet and became the frequent subjects of memes – images, videos, or phrases, usually completely pointless, that spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, emails or message boards [19].

 

Thus in the second chapter we have come to the following conclusions:

1. Movie genres are various forms or identifiable types of movies that have similar patterns, syntax, or cinematic techniques. However, most of the movies ever made are hybrids, straddling several movie genres, thus making it rather difficult to draw a borderline between movie genres.

Genres of modern American movies include: 1) action, 2) comedy, 3) crime, 4) drama, 5) historical, 6) horror, 7) musical, 8) science fiction, 9) thriller, 10) western.

2. B-movies have long and colorful history. When the term first appeared it used to be a neutral term for the second movie on double feature. The term, as we understand it today – a low budget formulaic movie with hammy acting and clichéd plot was began to be used in the 1940s.

In the 1960s the slackening of censoring laws led to the emergence of exploitation – movies, which exploit a hot topic or a sleazy theme.

In the 1960s the trend has started to die out, but many financially successful movies of that decade had characteristics that used to belong to B-movies.

The beginning of XXI century is considered to be the renaissance of B-movies, thanks to the development of technology, making filming equipment more available.

3. A cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a movie that has acquired a cult following with a specific group of fans. A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of culture.

Some movies achieve their cult status by raising a controversial topic, or by introducing groundbreaking cinematic techniques. Most B-movies, however, acquired their cult status due to their sheer ridiculousness. These movies are seen not as a serious movie, but as unintentional comedy. This interpretation of B-movies has become more popular among the young people of America thanks to the development of the Internet and movie buffs online-communities. Another reason of B-movies’ cult status might be the nostalgic value they hold to the older generation.

CONCLUSION

Cinematography is considered to be integral part of modern culture. It can be seen especially well in America, where the concepts of movie industry and movie cult come from. Moviemaking is a very complicated process involving a number of stages, and it requires a multitude of skilled professionals.

Cinematography has come a long way from primitive carnival attraction it was in the 1880s to the gargantuan and extremely influential industry it is today. The techniques became more complex, as the public became more sophisticated. The core part of world cinematography is the Hollywood movie industry, which has been the largest movie industry in the world since the end of Second World War. Hollywood movie industry is responsible for dictating the cinematic techniques and the tastes of public worldwide.

Such business-like attitude towards moviemaking led to the emergence of B-movies, which were made with no intention to hold any artistic merit, but to earn some money on sensational trend. These movies have been around since the beginning of Hollywood movie industry, although the term itself wasn’t invented until 1930s and wasn’t used in its modern sense until 1940s. Throughout their history the subject matter of B-movies has changed drastically several times in order to keep up with changeable tastes of movie-goers. One can see the changes in attitude of American public towards some risqué topics through the changes in sub-genres of B-movies: some themes that used to be shocking are now considered hackneyed and boring, while the others still disgust American audience the same way they did 40-30 years ago.

Due to their ubiquity B-movies has had a huge impact on pop-culture of several generations of America. Some of the biggest A-level blockbusters of recent years use storylines straight from an average B-movie. In addition, some B-movies that went unappreciated in their time, might gain a devoted fanbase that cherishes them for the reasons, they were previously criticized, like being laughably unprofessional.

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APPENDICES






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