Thread: cult films
View Single Post
Old 06-14-2007, 08:10 PM   #27
Raiyven
Big Bad Thread Boogeyman
 
Raiyven's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Burlington, ON.
Age: 41
Posts: 406
Send a message via ICQ to Raiyven Send a message via MSN to Raiyven
Default

In the film-specific case, think about the internalized longevity of propagandistic songs laid out alongside with imagery following the Party line and contrasting (and contradicting reality). You get a strong interplay of the ease of memory for those songs and the associated imagery with the end result of misdirecting the audience away from the real economic (usually was economic) situation of the time. Say, for example, memorable songs of Kuban Cossacks played out alongside images of plenty, stock footage of a harvest, women dancing in lush fields and so on when the harsh reality was that the central black earth regions were decimated by the war, and collectivization had done little to bring basic security to the rural regions as well. But! Urban audiences (and some rural) felt optimistic about it; some academic schools of thought interestingly (and I concur, rightly) have attempted to analyse the productive and positivistic impact of musicals during and following collectivization and the war.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Aluscia View Post
Hell, even UHF (which is one of the few movies I own on DVD, and watch regularly) is probably underground enough to be considered "cult".
You bought that on DVD? Dude, I still remember when you copied the VHS we rented from Blockbuster that one time.

Oh, and Last Starfighter. Maybe not cult, but cheesy as hell in a fun way. And Labyrinth. Not Pan's Labyrinth, though that was also decent, if for nothing else than allowing me to creep the hoo-hah out of Andie by walking around with my hands against my face hissing, pretending to be the albino child-eating dude.
__________________


"For in that we are both especially daring and especially thorough in calculating what we attempt, we can truly be distinguished from other men, for whom ignorance is boldness but calculation brings hesitancy. Rightly would they be judged strongest in spirit who recognize both dangers and pleasures with utmost clarity and are on neither count deterred from risks."

- Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War: 2.40, "The Funeral Oration of Perikles" (431 BCE)



Last edited by Raiyven; 06-14-2007 at 08:18 PM.
Raiyven is offline   Reply With Quote