We had another great week, this weeks extra long class we delved into the many readings we had this week with great passion, and we had presentations on two noteworthy films. The Breakfast Club, an obvious classic, was fun to hear about, I think I forgot about all the fantastic scenes in the movie. Jermey Spoke about Dr. Sleep, which I am so glad he did! He swayed me and I WILL watch this movie, I appreciate how passionate he was, I was so gear to listen his whole presentation. Props Pals! Though Matinee is definitely not my type of humor I can for sure appreciate it for what its worth, especially after the very informative readings.
Our readings explained cult cinema (and film festivals) in a couple fabulous ways-
“Cult cinema is duplicitous in nature and depending on the context can encapsulate a multitude of different kinds of cinema.”
“Cult is similarly grounded in institutionalization, and is less concerned with universal, professional and bureaucratic structures of belief.”
“Cult programs need to be obscure while delivering fresh cinematic experiences from both past and present and that cannot be found in a regular cinematic context. In the end these programs will help sculpt both underground and often even popular film culture.”
“At the forefront of the development of cult film culture are film festivals that help reveal new, exciting and fresh filmmakers, important foreign spotlights and unearth lost cinematic masters.”
All of the readings were helpful for my understanding and appreciation of Matinee. A part that stood out to me was “An exemplary film in this respect is one of Dante’s masterpieces, Matinee (1993), a heartfelt homage to the B-movie impresarios and visionary mavericks, from William Castle to Roger Corman. Our hero, a small-time film distributor with a knack for promotional tricks, releases his latest flick during the Cuban Missiles Crisis. The two seemingly unrelated events will come too closely depend on each other.” That sums up the movie really well. These readings about Joe Dante and Matinee obviously made reading the Collective Screams article make more enjoyable and understanding. The connection between Joe Dantes reason for making Matinee and his obsession with William Castle very apparent after reading the Collective Screams article. I think the interaction with the audience, either via the screen or for example vibrating seats, when viewing a film are so exciting! Now that is just considered IMAX… and I don’t think anyone really does that anymore.
Gimmick has been prevalent in many of the films we’ve seen or films we have studied and read about. Though it’s only now I’m realizing thats what it was in the film, it’s all making sense now just as Schlegel said it would.
I am excited for next weeks screening, though it sucks its the last weeks of class! I have gained so much from this class, and I was even converted to being a film minor! I look forward to our last week togther!
https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/08/09/the-craziest-movie-gimmicks-eve. This was a quick interesting read.
Cult Movies 