Underground film

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An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing. The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of directors who "played an anti-art role in Hollywood." He contrasts "such soldier-cowboy-gangster directors as Raoul Walsh, Howard Hawks, William Wellman," and others with the "less talented De Sicas and Zinnemanns [who] continue to fascinate the critics." However, as in "Underground Press", the term developed as a metaphorical reference to a clandestine and subversive culture beneath the legitimate and official media.

In the late 1950s, "underground film" began to be used to describe early independent film makers operating first in San Francisco, California and New York City, New York, and soon in other cities around the world as well, including the London Film-Makers' Co-op in Britain and Ubu Films in Sydney, Australia. The movement was typified by more experimental filmmakers working at the time like Stan Brakhage, Harry Everett Smith, Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas, Ken Jacobs, Ron Rice, Jack Smith, George Kuchar, Mike Kuchar, and Bruce Conner.
By the late 1960s, the movement represented by these filmmakers had matured, and some began to distance themselves from the countercultural, psychedelic connotations of the word, preferring terms like avant-garde or experimental to describe their work.
Through 1970s and 1980s, however, "underground film" would still be used to refer to the more countercultural fringe of independent cinema. The term was embraced most emphatically by Nick Zedd and the other filmmakers associated with the New York based Cinema of Transgression and No Wave Cinema of the late 1970s to early 1990s.
In the early 1990s, the legacy of the Cinema of Transgression carried over into a new generation, who would equate "underground cinema" with transgressive art, ultra-low-budget filmmaking created in defiance of both the commercialized versions of independent film offered by newly wealthy distributors like Miramax and New Line, as well as the institutionalized experimental film canonized at major museums. This spirit defined the early years of underground film festivals (like the New York Underground Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, Sydney Underground Film Festival, Hamilton Underground Film Festival, Toronto's Images Festival, and others), zines like Film Threat, as well as the works of filmmakers like Craig Baldwin, Jon Moritsugu, Carlos Atanes, Sarah Jacobson, Johnny Terris and Bruce La Bruce. In London the Underground resurgence emerged as a movement of Underground cinema clubs which included the radical open access group the Exploding Cinema.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the term had become blurred again, as the work at underground festivals began to blend with more formal experimentation, and the divisions that had been stark ones less than a decade earlier now seemed much less so. If the term is used at all, it connotes a form of very low budget independent filmmaking, with perhaps trangressive content, or a lo-fi analog to post-punk music and cultures. Taking place in basements across America, underground film has long had difficulties in gaining mainstream acceptance. Critics have further stated that underground film viewing is analogous with gang culture, violence, and drug use in minors.

1 Underground versus cult
2 Further reading
3 See also

Underground versus cult

The term "underground film" is occasionally used as a synonym for cult film. Though there are important distinctions between the two, a significant overlap between these categories is undeniable. The films of Kenneth Anger, for example, could arguably be described as underground, experimental and cult. However, a studio film like Heathers may have a cult following, but could not be accurately described as an underground film.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_film"

Cult following

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A cult following is a term used to refer to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, 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 often associated with niche markets or subcultures. 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 films not because they consider them to be excellent, but because they are so bad that they become funny and curiously fascinating. 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.

1 Examples
2 See also
3 Further reading
4 References

Examples

Film director David Lynch has a large cult following

There isn't always a clear difference between cult and mainstream media. The film Pink Flamingos is known for its disgusting scenes, and only a small number of people are drawn to this movie. Therefore it can be classified as a cult movie. Franchises such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Batman, and Harry Potter have core groups of fanatical followers but still attract mass audiences, so they cannot be considered true cult films.
Quentin Tarantino's films borrow stylistically from classic cult movies, but are appreciated by a large audience, and therefore lie somewhere between cult and mainstream. Certain cult phenomena can grow to such proportions that they become mainstream. Fans who used to appreciate the cult item when it was still obscure sometimes lose interest when it becomes very popular.
Some cults are only popular within a certain subculture. The film Woodstock is especially loved within the hippie subculture. A Clockwork Orange a cult film for punks, skinheads and other groups. Certain mainstream icons can become cult icons in a different context for certain people. The mainstream film The Wizard of Oz is a cult film in gay culture. Reefer Madness was originally intended to warn the youth against drugs, but due to its ridiculous plot and cheap look, it is now often watched by stoned audiences, and has gained a cult following.
Anime, manga, kung fu films and kaiju are mainstream entertainment in Japan, but elsewhere are generally appreciated by a cult audience. Doctor Who is a prime time family show in Great Britain, but a cult series in the US. Also, the animated pre-school show Pocoyo has attracted a reasonably large cult following among viewers older than its target audience due to the show's humour and its narrator, Stephen Fry.
It often takes a few years before a cult starts to form around a particular film or band. Captain Beefheart's album Trout Mask Replica, Jim Carrey's film The Cable Guy and the TV series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show were originally not that successful, but as time went by they were able to collect a cult following. In some cases this cult status is unexpected, like the Disney film Fantasia (1940), which was a flop at its release, but was reappreciated by fans of psychedelica in the 1960s. Other phenomena are specifically created and aimed at a cult audience, like the TV series The Young Ones or the drug oriented movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
In a BBC review of Farscape episode "Throne for a Loss", Richard Manning, the review writer said "Farscape is now officially a cult series because it's being shown out of sequence." The episode in question was actually shown as the second episode, after the Premier; despite originally being intended as the fifth episode to be shown.

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Tuesday, December 14, 2010