First off I just need to apologize for my awfully rocky start the readings discussion, truthfully I think I blacked out up there and lost all sense of mind… lol. But on the flip I watched the movie for a second time on Tuesday with Tal, Zane, and Mary. I’m obsessed to say the least, and am so glad that I was introduced to this movie. I was attracted the colorful, surreal backgrounds of certain characters and shots and the utopian feel that was done by shooting at night and filming hella fast.

This week the readings were straight to the point as well as the other links Dr. S sent us that gave us even more insight on the film and its background. The reading more specifically based on The Warriors that first spoke about how different the movie was from he book, more importantly it touched on how dreamy and groovy this representation of young boy gangs in New York City in the late &0’s (although it seemed like a different future version due to Walter Hills intentionally stylized atmosphere). The movie has quite the simple plot; hundreds of mini boy gangs from all five boroughs trek to the Bronx to a rally that Cyrus ***a gang god*** is hosting, Cyrus gets shot, and the one group The Warriors are accused of shooting Cyrus, they all try heading home to Coney Island whilst getting jumped by multiple other mini gangs around the city trying to report him to the Riffs. It is basically a big baseball game, subway stations as bases, marking a victory from another team. They eventually have a home run when the Riffs meet them on Coney Island to save them and get themes successful gang in the city. The movie is nothing like any New York City a real person has ever seen. No one else roams the streets unless they are there on purpose, it is foggy and saturated with color, gangs filled of provocative identities, and narrated by an unknown dj. 

When the film was released it had horrible feedback, viewers said it was insightful of violence and was almost even banned in Boston. On the other hand it enticed an immediate cult following due to the luxurious glam-rockeque sense embedded in the film. I respect Hills attempt to represent the youth of America with no moral judgment nor rationalize it through Bourgeois societal standards. I could understand the relation to the Warriors and the reading, Horrors at the Crossroads, which talks about the Rialto and its influence on cult movie goers. The Rialto were densely populated areas in the city that had an all inclusive invite to a huge post war gay culture funhouse. No matter your race, gender orientation, or sexual orientation, those stretches of movie theaters showed films that allowed people to dive into their true identities. Women realized they can kiss their girlfriends and they do not have to be stay at home mom while their husbands are off at a war. Men were cooped up across the sea and they do not need to be secretive about their love and attraction to their solider mates.

Thanks Schlegel for the opportunity to study and analyze this fantastic movie, that will surely impact me for ma whole life. Thanks fellow cult class for putting up with my presentation. I could have gone hard on my person impression and what not from the movie, but I figured that, I presented on the readings this week: why not reference them a tad more this week? xx