This week we watched Alex Cox’s tragic love story of Sid and Nancy which was a romanticized yet guttural portrayal of the relationship between Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and Nancy Spungen. The film centers on their relationship and its gradual degradation due to their drug abuse that would eventually lead to both their deaths. Anyone who reads about the story of Sid and Nancy now would most probably feel pity, despite their self-destructive behaviors, as they were no older than 21 years old when they both completed their death pact. I remember reading about them in high school when I was researching about Kurt Cobain, another rock tragedy that was influenced by their unfortunate story as he found immediate interest in his wife Courtney Love because she “looked like Nancy Spungen”. She even tried to audition for the role of Nancy in the film, but was instead given the minor role of Gretchen, but has since adopted many stylistic parallels to Nancy’s iconography. Just to mention so before I get really deep and sad about the film, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen this film as one of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons (Love, Springfieldian Style) reenacts basically the whole plot with Lisa and Nelson with the substitute of heroin as candy.

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The actual film is a difficult watch, as it implores a love triangle between a young couple and their addiction and shows the physical deterioration and derailment of their lives to its infamous conclusion. Cox compliments the film with a haunting soundtrack that follows the explosive punk music they originated in the beginning into a depressive new wave as their era begins to fade. 

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The portrait of punk rock is nothing short of lively and destructive, just as the stars lived their lives in the early 70s of England in their close-knit scene. An enormous cult factor of this film is the portrayal of a largely despised but later appreciated movement of punk-rock, which was counter-cultural in nature. Legs McNeil, a music journalist and witness to the punk-scene fad described the anger that justified the music “You’ve got to remember, Donny and Marie were on TV,” says McNeil. “We were tired of being nice. It was like, fuck you. The left had become as oppressive as the Republicans. They invented that political-correctness stuff. Punk was supposed to piss off everybody and make people think.” Sid Vicious was described as the “attitude” of punk by his manager Malcolm McLaren, being violent and provocative was his appeal. Nancy Spungen came into his life as a dealer for the bands in their scene, thus an introduction to the deadly lifestyle that characterized the music they were producing. The transgressive portrayal of their drug use was intended to be cautionary for Alex Cox, meant to evoke the tragedy of young lives destroyed by addiction. However the analysis of Sid and Nancy as a drug film is what pushed its cult status, illustrating how the addiction and the punk fad played hand-in-hand. In the reading Cult Cinema and Drugs, Ernest Mathijs writes

“Much like the way hippies adopted the negative term “freak” and wore it as a positive badge of difference, likewise with “trash.” In this sense, heroin films can have a wider appeal beyond mere users of the drug; they can also appeal to anyone who feels dissatisfied with the conventional parameters of everyday living.” 

Which is just how the musicians, groupies, and followers of the punk-scene in England felt when they coined the rambunctious and self-destructive essence that coincidentally would burn-out in a few years as most of their luminaries died from this behavior. While the portrayal of Sid and Nancy borders on romanticism, they were largely propped as an example in the time of their tragedy, and given no sympathy. The film offers a different understanding of their experiences, of how their screaming and intoxication was an imperfect, immature story of two kids who really cared for each other. The famous wide-shot scene of Sid and Nancy kissing in the alleyway while trash falls around them to the slow-motion guitar music of Pray for Rain, is spell-binding and creates an illusion  around their harsh reality as surreal and intoxicating as the infatuation they must have felt for each other. 

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In short, this movie made me cry. Watching the gradual collapse of the young lovers is painful but beautifully composed, and I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. While I found Chloe Webb a bit shrill in comparison to the real Nancy Spungen, she does a good job of portraying her as excruciating but loveable for her genuinity. I implore anyone who was as fascinated by her as I was to read this New York Magazine article about her misunderstood influence on punk-rock despite being widely hated for yoko-ing the Sex Pistols. As for the presentations by Tallula and Patrick, I think they complimented the transgressive nature of this week’s film in starkly different but communicative ways. I definitely am interested in watching La Haine now as I am in Love with Vincent Cassal (also ages like a fine wine) and the gritty, angsty appearance of its filming is really speaking to me in these dark times. If anyone has read this post in its entirety, here’s a pic of me and Mia being countercultural. 

For our twelfth week of class, we watched Sid & Nancy, a cult film based off the lives of Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungeon. In the past, we’ve discussed how cult films often include taboo elements that main stream society finds offensive. Gore, violence, homosexuality, and drugs are themes Hollywood tends to avoid when looking for a box office hit. But director Alex Cox wasn’t looking for box office records when filming Sid and Nancy—he was going for realism.

As our reading of Spectacular Recuperation: Alex Cox Sid & Nancy states, historical films can be risky. There is a fine line between retelling events and twisting facts. At what point does using a creative licence to fill in the blanks do more harm than good?

The story of Sid and Nancy is also the story of Punk Rock. First popularized in the late 70’s, punk is a music genre born from chaos. London and New York City were lawless cities, with druggies in every ally and gangs fighting on every street. England in particular was faced with high unemployment, and there was much distrust between the older and younger generations. This was due to the heavy drug usage and ‘hippie’ movements that are now an iconic staple of the decade.

While Dazed and Confused and Detroit Rock City both showed the use of pot in their films, Sid and Nancy focuses on a less enjoyable drug—heroin. Overall drugs play an important role in cult films. As stated in our reading of Cult Cinema and Drugs, drugs tended to define their users. Some subcultures of hippie groups would distinguish themselves by their choice of drug. In many ways drugs have defined generations.  Surprisingly, drugs have been in cinema since the creation of film, the first being a 30 second shot for an opium den in 1894.

I will be completely honest here—I did not understand what was going on for the first half of the film. All anyone did on screen was shout, curse and mumble in thick accents that made them near impossible to understand. Eventually I just paused the film so I could look up what the hell was going on. I had never heard of Sid Vicious or Nancy Spungeon. I guess only the craziest stories can be true. While not a movie I enjoyed, everything about this film screams cult. Heavy drug usage, rebel punk band, gritty realism, two lead characters who you can’t decide wither to pity or hate—everything stood out. At the end of the film, I had more questions than answers. How did Nancy even get to London? Where did Sid die? How the hell did they keep getting money to do drug? Why did the hotel manager let them stay after they set the place on fire?!

My favorite shot in this film was Sid’s dream sequence, after the band breaks up in New York City. It was so bizarre, kind of like Suspiria meets Valerie’s Week of Wonders but less whimsy and more murder. I’d like to end this blog with a question—what did you all think of Nancy? I pitied her, especially after her family kicks her out of the house towards the end of the film. But I also pitied those who had to deal with her. My biggest question from the film was what turned her into such a mess? Then again I guess the answer is pretty obvious.

Don’t do heroin guys.

This movie was very hard to watch. Nancy was very toxic but is sad that she had to go out like that. I’m sorry to say but her voice was very annoying also and I recognized it. Nancy is Monica from Shameless and she died in that show too. She was a drug addict but died from brain damage. Back to the movie Sid and Nancy. Nancy introduced Sid to drugs which changed his life forever. He even died from heroin overdose. Nancy was just toxic and Sid dealt with it and that is not healthy. Sid and Nancy were arguing and she ended up getting stabbed in the abdomen and she was drugged to feel it and woke up with a lot of blood loss and died on the bathroom floor. Even before she died in the bathroom, They were so drugged up that they sat in a room that was on fire and watched the flames get bigger. They both could have died right there from smoke inhalation but got saved. This movie was hard to watch because we watched Sid meet Nancy and we watched his life go downhill. Love and drugs make you do crazy things and it’s sad that they had to die. They were constantly fighting and getting high off heroin. I liked seeing how New york city looked at that time though. Watching Sid perform and start shooting the audience members as part of the gig was a surprising scene for me and to watch Nancy walk up to him was weird but entertaining. 

Schlegel said that he shed a tear while watching the trailer to the movie so I decided to watch it but I didn’t feel the same, but this movie has sentimental values to him so I understand. The movie was sad because drugs took both of their lives and they were alway looking to get their next fix. The idea of incorporating drugs into the film and that in itself gained a cult following. LSD and marijuana was big at the time they took them in order to enhance their creativity in making the films. That is when they started putting disclaimers in the beginning of films in order to warn viewers about what they are about to see and how dangerous it is. Raves and club scenes are not the same if drugs are not involved in them and that is something we see today in movies and will continue to see. Something I learned is that “Punks are a product of their environment and grow scholarly attention” and that makes so much sense. The Hollywood cliche we see in romance movies is that we catch the couple kissing in the rain in a cute manner and in this case they were kissing in an alley with trash flying around and that was unique in its own way or maybe that is what drugs do. Besides the movie, Talulla and Patrick did an amazing job tonight presenting their movies.

And we’re back for another blog post, with a new film, and a new set of readings. This week we watched Sid and Nancy, the 1986 drama directed by Alex Cox. Before I even go on about the film I want to introduce the most important fact I actually missed until it was pointed out. Sid Vicious is played by Gary Oldman, or rather as I know him, Sirius Black. I grew up living and breathing the Harry Potter franchise: novels, movies, fan-based content. There were no limits. I was severely disappointed in myself when I didn’t even recognize him. There is an 18 year gap between his portrayal of Sid Vicious and Sirius Black, so there is a lot of growth and age, but to learn that fact shocked me to my core, more so than the drug film readings.

This weeks film was a lot darker than I was expecting. I really didn’t know what to expect. Before this cult films course I had never even heard of this film, perhaps because of its heavy drug use and drug influence. Growing up in a sheltered world the entire concept of this film would have been a no-go in my household. A lot of these films we watch are very different to me, but I am very grateful for this new experience and all of the films are so drastically different it’s like I am being driven at high speed through all of the culture I have been missing out on.

This week we read the chapter on”Cult Cinema and Drugs.” I was actually very surprised at how deeply effected cinema was by drug consumption and portrayal. I knew it held a role in the history of just about everything, but I had no idea how much or why until this week. “Drugs have also played a crucial role in many sociological accounts of deviance and subcultures. In various, often youthful, sub-cultural groupings, different drugs have often played important roles as agents of altered conscious-ness that can erect barriers between “us” and “them” (i.e.“straight,” conventional society)” (165). Drugs are the newest way we have learned to differentiate between the “mainstream” society and the “outskirt” society. Most of this film follows the destruction of heroin addicts and ultimately ends in the deaths of both characters, something tragic albeit predictable. Based on how I was raised I took this film as a warning of “don’t do drugs kids,” a very common phrase now. In a completely different society this is a tragic love story that doesn’t actually end horribly, because they’re together in this “after” world. With how significant the role of drugs play in the plot and in society it really made me question the ending. I was happy they ended up “together again” rather than it just being a harsh ending, but does this “happily ever after” take away from an important message on heroine addiction? It was hard to tell. The type of drug they chose for the film is also super important. The fact it was heroine instead of marijuana changes so much. The severe drug choice made me sit back and think, even if that wasn’t the ultimate goal of the film.

And finally, this week we had two amazing film presentations. This week we got to enjoy La Haine and Fight Club. I have not seen the first film, something I plan to change, but the second is one of my all time favorites. I won’t go on, as we both know the most important rule of Fight Club, is we don’t talk about Fight Club.

This week we watched the film Sid and Nancy, and this has been a bit different compared to what we have watched the past few weeks. We went from films that depicted the craziness of high school in the 70s and some of the different shenanigans you could get into. This one took a different approach with a much slower tone. We had fast rock and cars, now we got drug addiction. I guess you can argue that they were smoking weed and that is kind of the same, but for our generation we don’t see it the way it was.

With this film all said and done, I am not sure if I will watch it again. It doesn’t mean that I did not like it, but it was not just for me. I think we have seen so many films that it is hard to see everyone as one I can fall in love with or really want to view again.

For me, I found the imagery and the songs really helped to show how crazy this was. It was insane to think about how this was. I can no longer be surprised by the actions that these rock stars get into after watching The Dirt.  This was a film that followed the band Motley Crue, who we hear about last week with Hot Tub Time Machine. I think any movie that takes a look into the music industry really open everyone’s eyes. I think if this film came out now, it might have been more popular. With so many that have come out like The Dirt, Rocketman, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Recently it seems that everyone wants to hear about the bands that they have grown up with. Maybe if they held off on the timing it would be better known. I have never listen to Sex Pistols before, but i have heard of them for some of the reasons that were shown in the film. Might listen to a few songs later.

Talulla started it off with our first cult film of the night, La Haine. Once again, a movie I have never heard of. I can be convinced to watch just because I am a sucker for a good soundtrack. I mean you cannot go wrong with some good songs and a good movie. The trailer was interesting, and I am not sure if I will watch it, but it may be easier to see since we are all stuck inside. The films that times of unrest and danger are the best to show how bad things can be and why we need change. It will be interesting when we get a film talking about some of the issue we are dealing with currently. I think I like these because so many films have so much passion and can really bring the viewer in.

I cannot believe that there is one rule and Pat broke it. Now he is asking us to break this rule for our discussion. This is wild, you don’t talk about fight club and yet here we are. I have only seen bits and pieces, but I know the film from most of the movie reference. Each week I hear people talk about these films and I think that I should watch it. With this one, it falls under the category like The Shining of why have you not seen this one yet. After hearing this one, I definitely need to just bunker down more than I already am and view a this one. Such a great film and cast from Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and even Meat Loaf. I am not sure what it is, but Meat Loaf has a way of being in cult movies. Since we saw him last year in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This week’s screening is a film I have not seen before Detroit Rock City. As it reminds me of many of the movies I watched in high school I’m surprised I hadn’t come across it sooner, I honestly haven’t heard of the film before it was mentioned in this class, that being said, it hasn’t been my favorite film this semester but I did enjoy it very much! The film follows a group of teen boys in a kiss cover band as they go through obstacles to see the band they idolize. Of course, the quest was not easy, if it was I’m sure it would be a boring film, watching their conquest is what makes the movie so fun, along with the rebellious goofy boys. Like, seeing Kiss for these kids was nooooot easy, but that’s what makes the end, when they finally go feel so fulfilling, YES !! They’re finally seeing them after everything. This film like last week’s Dazed and Confused takes place in the 70s, further reflecting on that 70s nostalgia. Watching these two screenings made me think about our generation and if we have any nostalgia in contemporary film or a certain era, honestly the more I think about it the more I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of contemporary films are focused more on political climates than longing for a certain aesthetic of the past. The world seems to be so crazy nowadays it’s hard to focus on much else. Maybe that’s also just where I find myself navigating within film though as that is a topic I am constantly thinking about.  That also only comes through from films I personally have been watching the past few years though so if anyone has anything to contribute to this though I’d love to know. Outside of film I definitely think there is a general at least in my generation a nostalgia for the 90s/early 2000s, our earliest childhood years.

Anyways, back to the film, at one point the kiss fanboys literally beat up a disco duo which is a funny relation to last weeks reading, I can’t remember which but one talked about how disco was literally the hype in 90s music films but Detroit Rock City and Dazed and Confused rebelled against this trend and we quite literally see it, the tagline is “Disco Sucks” that was just so fun.

Another part of this film that I thought was super funny was that the crazy christian  mother of the main character, Jam was soooo conservative, she was like a character straight out of reefer madness. She mentions pot being horrible SO many times in the most absurd dramatic ways (despite chugging down wine and chain smoking cigarettes) she was one of the highlights of the film just because of how ridiculous her character was.

The reading I enjoyed a lot was Cult Cinema And Music. This reading talks exactly what the title says, music, cult films and how they correspond. The first thing i was ever passionate about in life was music, stemming all the way back to elementary school being obsessed with the beatles. Music has always been a huge interest of mine which is why i belive i enjoy cult films so much. Just like the reading discusses cult film and cinema are intertwined. Many musicians pop up in cult films such as Kiss in the screening this week, Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth, the Beatles in all of their movies, and many more. Another type of film is the staged concert film, this reading talks about The Talking Heads film Stop Making Sense and how by being a band and making a film like this, it can get your audience into cult films or get the filmgoer interested in your band. Love the talking head and this film by the way! David Byrne is amazing.

Soundtracks to cult films in themselves have a major part of the cult movie experience and can get a cult following of their own, the author talks a lot about Quinten Tarantinos ability to create not only great films but soundtracks that accompany them that gain a cult following as well as the movie, the way he can juxtapose the brutal image with a sugary pop image and I agree, it is quite fascinating how he does it and great to watch! A film I can personally talk about is The Harder They Come (1972). I Had not seen the film until this summer but I have been listening to the films soundtrack by Jimmy Cliff for years, finally when I had time I sat down and watched the film and obviously loved it. That is just my personal experience with the relation between cult film and music, the reading was super interesting and made me think a lot about my self discovery in terms of music and films and how they correlate.

This week’s screening was of Detroit Rock City and I ended up really enjoying it. I kind of knew how the film was going to go and that it wasn’t going to be as easy to get the tickets to go to the concert. I loved every minute of the movie and I loved all of the jokes in the film. The whole film reminded me of the late nineties and early 2000 comedies that emerged that are really ridiculous, like Bubble Boy and Dude, Where’s My Car. Movies that when you’re watching them, you realize how ridiculous they actually are. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack of the film and listening to the soundtracks for the two films for the past two weeks remind me of two other films with very good soundtracks, that I would say is based off a comic book series that has a cult following. 

This week, the reading that really stuck out to me was the reading “Cult Cinema and Music” and there are a few reasons why. One of these is that music is always my favorite thing to listen to in movies, and I will always remember the soundtrack to a film that I love. I could make a list right now of the soundtracks that I love listening to, but that list would probably be a few pages long. Another reason is that I love musical movies. I could watch a movie musical any day, as long as the music is good. I have the La La Land and The Greatest Showman soundtrack saved to my phone because I love the music in those movies. I could sing along to these movies if they appeared on TV or if someone played it randomly. What I am really trying to say is that if the music in a movie is good, then the audience is probably going to remember it and leave the movie either singing one of the songs in the movie or even humming along to one of the scores in the movie.

Now let me talk about the movies that in my opinion have a better soundtrack than Detroit Rock City and Dazed and Confused. The films that I am talking about are Guardians of the Galaxy, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The soundtracks to these two films I fell in love with. I fell in love with them both so much that after I saw the first film on opening night, I immediately purchased the soundtrack and I also purchased the soundtrack of the second film weeks before the actual film came out. The soundtracks of these two films became iconic within the comic book fandom and everyone fell in love with the music. I also love the scores for both of the films, I could literally hum the theme of the Guardians right now. I love the music of both of these films and I believe they are the best soundtracks, and also the scores for both films are very good. Also, the director, James Gunn, picks out the music himself for the films.

There is something very funny about the Guardians, they were originally a cult comic book. Before the films came out nobody knew about them, except for a cult following of people that knew about their comics, and when Marvel announced the film, people wondered if this would be Marvel’s first failure. But, as we know history, it didn’t and ended up becoming one the biggest franchises. Just like how Detroit Rock City is based off a cult rock band, both Guardians films are based off a cult comic book. 

Now to finish this off, I want to say that there are many other film soundtracks that I love, but Guardians soundtrack for some reason has something special about it to me. Maybe it is because it is recognizable music or that the music is heavily associated with the film. I also want to mention that James Gunn has some of the best taste in music and that I can’t wait for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to come out so that I can have some more music to listen to. Also, I challenge everyone to a dance-off, even though I would lose horribly.

BY SARAH BATY

alright y’all Detroit Rock City is an epic EpIc EPIC movie and basically I am pretty sure anyone who watches this will say so. My friends thoroughly enjoyed themselves and so did I. I saw this movie when I was younger but I hadn’t watched it in FOREVER and it was just so enjoyable I would give it seven thumbs up if possible.

DRC makes you remember the feeling of rebellion. Now I don’t know about y’all but I was pretty wild in high school and so this movie really gets me. Sometimes its worth being caught if the memories are good enough!! The movie is obviously nostalgic for high school days, the very definition of nostalgic is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” Now not gonna lie high school was definitely trash but wow were the good parts GOOD. In our reading Classical Hollywood Cults it stated how “most of the appeal of classical Hollywood films comes from an elusive sense of ‘home’.” This “home” and “better time” that everyone refers to is usually a time without technology. Which I find to be kinda accurate. I would really love to throw my phone out the window sometimes and never look back. On the other hand, I love being able to snap a picture so easily and share it with my family members who live in other states and countries. So there is definitely pros and cons to both sides. One thing I would also like to point out about the film itself is its relation to Dazed and Confused in its structure. How they split up and then all meet up at the end. This is interesting comparison to make because it was my friend who actually pointed it out! I obviously noticed but he said that that was something that he really enjoyed about DRC and D&C. Maybe there’s something nostalgic in the sense of separating from people and then coming back together I don’t know!

Our other reading, Cult Cinema and Music, discussed the importance of the soundtrack in film. It states, “A concert film or music documentary based around a particular artist/group is most reliant on an already existing fanbase for its appeal,” which is what Detroit Rock City does. Basing the whole movie around going to a KISS concert is pretty freaking great especially because of the stigma around KISS. “The devils music” and such could be said about the band. The rumor about how Gene Simmons had a cows tongue grafted on his is pretty iconic. I don’t know how obsessed y’all’s fathers were about KISS but mine was/ is definitely a gigantic, massive fan and by association I was as well. We watched Gene Simmons Family Jewels like our life depended on it, as if we were being paid to do so. If you haven’t watched it just check it out for a sec, youtube it, you won’t be disappointed I promise.

Moving on to PRESENTATIONSSS YAS I will tell you what seeing that it was on Hot Tub Time Machine I was very surprised because I didn’t really suspect that it would be; however, it totally fits all the criteria. Watching the presentation i was like holy crap yes this movie is so iconic. That Michael Jackson line SENDS ME OFF THE DEEP END EVERY TIME i am 100% sure that line invented comedy.

I have never seen Tank Girl nor have I heard of Tank Girl but I just had to pop in and say that how she described Tank Girl as “having a presence that demands to be acknowledged” hit me HARD. That right there was enough to get me to want to watch the movie.

This week we watched Detroit Rock City. I personally had never seen it before watching it this week but of course I knew the song Detroit Rock City. I must say however I was very impressed with the film. This film not only had a great soundtrack that will be stuck in my head the rest of the week the acting was once again great in this film, just like last weeks. The theme of these films we have been watching is something that I can relate to. I have watched many films growing up that were based in this era of the 70’s and 80’s because it is what my parents grew up on. I could see why Detroit Rock City could be a cult classic for many people. It crosses off many checklists for a cult classic such as its budget and then what it made in the box office. When doing some research on this film I was surprised that it only made $5 million in the box office compared to its budget of $17 million. I figured that this movie would have gotten way more reception than it did due to nostalgia reasons that may have resonated with people who grew up during that time. I mean the film specifically targets 4 young boys which their only dream is to see KISS live. They go through many obstacles to get there but in the end they finally get to see KISS. While many people probably wanted to see it just for the aspect of KISS being in it, I liked how they waited until the end to finally give you what they were trying to get the whole time. The film was overall very funny and worth the watch in my opinion.

The reading that I enjoyed this week was the one on Classical Hollywood Cults. It targeted nostalgia which is something I am sure many people related to in Detroit Rock City. We can relate to many classic Hollywood films because of the nostalgia that it brings. Not only does the film not get “old”, it brings us back to our childhood sometimes or the time when you first saw the film making it bring back many memories. I like how it talked about the Wizard of Oz which gives me so much nostalgia from growing up. I still am some what afraid of those flying monkeys. Another part of the reading that I liked that it talked about was the section on Gaiety. It started off by saying that the term gay has changed so much throughout the history of classical Hollywood cult films. While it used to mean happy or cheery it now has to do with sexuality. It talks about how some films may have a battle of the sexes. The receptions of some of these cult films are now losing what they actually meant and their innocence. Those were just some of the categories that defined a classical Hollywood cult film but many things were important throughout the reading.

Finally this week we ended with two great presentations. The first presentation was on Hot Tub Time Machine which in my opinion is also a great cult film. The film in general is just so funny and hard to not be laughing if you watch it with all its catchy lines. The second film presented this week was Tank Girl which personally didn’t sound too intriguing to me. I am pretty open to most films but I could understand where this film could be a cult film for some people who are into films like that.

Music has always seemed a bit cult-like to me. I was raised as a rock baby through and through—my parents constantly listening to the Stones and Pink Floyd throughout my childhood. Most notably, however, were The Doors. Every single day that my father drove me to school, The Doors were always blasting. They kinda worshiped Jim Morrison and, honestly, same.

While I didn’t particularly enjoy this week’s screening, I did enjoy learning about the relationship of cult movies and music. Detroit Rock City (1999) falls under the first category that our “Cult Cinema and Music” reading breaks down: Rock Movies.

The reading describes these types of films as movies which primarily attract a following due to the cult reputation of the musical artists who feature within the film which was, in our case, KISS. I particularly enjoyed reading about the visual economy of rock.

Lawrence Grossberg has argued that rock itself is a visual form, in that its fans often encounter it through live or mediated performances, or through the visual containers of record sleeves. He also notes how different types of rock fans will often adopt specific dress codes and other stylistic markers.

I find it so interesting that the reading spoke about how different types of rock fans will often adopt specific dress codes. It’s funny how that applies to so many different eras of music—from psychedelic rock to grunge rock to hip-hop.

It was also interesting to read about cult cinema and musicals, considering the fact that one of the most iconic, if not the most, cult movies of all time is a musical—The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1995). I liked that the reading categorized The Sound of Music (1965) as a cult film—after a semester of watching the screenings we’ve had, it’s funny to see how a movie like The Sound of Music can fall under the same category as a film like Pink Flamingos (1972).

Funny enough, most of the music I’ve been listening to lately have been cult soundtracks. I’ve been bumping tunes from movies we’re watched all semester. In fact, I think that I can credit a large chunk of my taste in music to movies in general.

I completely understand the cultural significance of Detroit Rock City in the world of cult films, don’t get me wrong. I just didn’t find the film enjoyable at all. Perhaps it’s because I don’t fall under any of the target market—I don’t like KISS, I don’t know Detroit, and I don’t like boyish-humor filled movies with numerous rape jokes. Also, the boys look more like Big Time Rush than anything (yes, even Edward Furlong).

Perhaps I didn’t like Detroit Rock City because, for me, it wasn’t drenched in nostalgia. To me, this film was a goofy, try-hard comedy with a pretty good soundtrack, but that’s just because I don’t have an emotional connection to so many of the film’s elements. Again, I completely understand the significance of this film—I just don’t get it.