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I would assume you mean cult film?
Cult film is a colloquial term for a film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside of this small group (however, there are a few exceptions.) Some cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become recognized as classics, others are of the "so bad it's good" variety, and are destined to remain in obscurity. Cult films often become the source of a thriving, obsessive, and elaborate subculture of fandom, hence the analogy to cults. However, not every film with a rabid fanbase is necessarily a cult film. The term cult film implies a certain level of obscurity, and widely popular, mainstream movies are not considered to be cult films.
And if this is what you meant, the answer is clearly no.
Originally posted by ~JP~
I would assume you mean cult film?Cult film is a colloquial term for a film that has acquired a highly devoted but relatively small group of fans. [b]Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside of this small group (however, there are a few exceptions.)[b] Some cult movies have gone on to transcend their original cult status and have become recognized as classics, others are of the "so bad it's good" variety, and are destined to remain in obscurity. Cult films often become the source of a thriving, obsessive, and elaborate subculture of fandom, hence the analogy to cults. However, not every film with a rabid fanbase is necessarily a cult film. The term cult film implies a certain level of obscurity, and widely popular, mainstream movies are not considered to be cult films.
And if this is what you meant, the answer is clearly no.
Would Star Wars come under these exceptions would you not think? Bearing in mind "mainstream movies are not considered to be cult films"
Would you also consider Star Wars fandom to be thriving or obsessive?
It's not a cult classic. SW has a pretty mainstream fan based audience.
In general, cult classics are movies that didn't do well at the box office and garnered interest from a particular audience afterwards. A good well known example of a cult classic (but there are many) is Blade Runner: it got slashed by critics when it came out, it didn't do too well, but it has a defintive group of fans that loved the movie and it has gotten more positive press in the years after.
SW was a box office hit. All six movies did very well. Hardly a cult following, it's a very succesfull mass entertainment product.
Originally posted by Alliance
SW is more than a cult classic, but it does have MULTIPLE cult folllowings.
That's effectively my point in a nutshell, courtesy of Alliance. SW has a cult following, but it is atypical for a "cult classic" because it's following has transcended the boundaries the term is usually defined by.
I mean, Star Wars has created an officially recognised religion of around 600,000 Jedi worldwide. That isn't a cult following? Please.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
It's not offically recognised, geez.
Maybe not by other institutions, but in England and Wales, the census recongnised the Jedi as it's own category, not simply as "other". Surely this makes it officially recognised, by the very people compiling the data.
Just because there are some particulary committed devotees in no way makes this a cult movie. It's not transcending any meaning- it's simply NOT that meaning.
Some commited devotees? Ush, these people express all manner of cult-like behaviour in the ways Blade Runner or Logan's Run fans would, yet there are simply 100 times as many of them. There can be no true definition for "cult classic" because it's subjective, and to trying to parade "cult films" as simply non-mainstream films is flawed, as Star Wars and Star Trek prove.
Or are Trekkies simply an urban myth?
It doesn;t matter if they follow what you deem to be 'cult' like behaviour. That does not make Star Wars a cult film because the majority of its viewers and supporters do not fit that type. 'Cult' films have a small but loyal fanbase. That is, in no way at all, even vaguely a definition of Star Wars, which is a populist movie. It's all very well for you to say 'there can be no true definition for cult classic', but with all due respect, that's just you talking rubbish. There IS a definition and it is not something you can just re-define to suit yourself.
Meanwhile, you are wrong again. It is a popular and rather dumb myth that 'Jedi' as a religion got any form of official recognition as a religion in the UK. All it got as recognition was that people were responding with that answer, which means nothing, as the census people specifically pointed out. Half a million people could put down 'cactus' and they would note it, doesn't make 'cactus' a religion. 'Jedi' is not and will not be a religion.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
It doesn;t matter if they follow what you deem to be 'cult' like behaviour. That does not make Star Wars a cult film because the majority of its viewers and supporters do not fit that type. 'Cult' films have a small but loyal fanbase. That is, in no way at all, even vaguely a definition of Star Wars, which is a populist movie. It's all very well for you to say 'there can be no true definition for cult classic', but with all due respect, that's just you talking rubbish. There IS a definition and it is not something you can just re-define to suit yourself.
Now, what is rubbish is that you presume there can be a true definition. Now notice the use of true here, for sometimes we must give flawed definitions to things simply so we can make meaning. I suspect you understand that, and I won't insult your intelligence by reiterating it again. Again, do you deny the existence of he most iconic "cult" of them all, the Trekkies? Is Star Trek not mainstream? or will you re-define the meaning to deny the obvious?
Certainly, a populist movie, but how can you dismiss the huge cult following Star Wars has, both from the general cinema goer and the incredibly zealous devotee's.
Originally posted by Ushgarak
Meanwhile, you are wrong again. It is a popular and rather dumb myth that 'Jedi' as a religion got any form of official recognition as a religion in the UK. All it got as recognition was that people were responding with that answer, which means nothing, as the census people specifically pointed out. Half a million people could put down 'cactus' and they would note it, doesn't make 'cactus' a religion. 'Jedi' is not and will not be a religion. [/B]
Actually, I'm completely right, although I certainly use the term "official" liberously, I have no quarrel admitting that. The Census had their own code for the response of "Jedi", not simply "other", because in England and Wales, it was the 4th largest recognised religion.
Your completely right that half a million people could right down cactus, but they did say "Jedi" and it just reaffirms the cult status it has with students (the majority of "jedi" responses came from uni-towns), even if it was done humurously.
Originally posted by exanda kaneJedi (they're not ACTUALLY Jedi so I don't count them 13) are a cult in more than one sense of the word.
That's effectively my point in a nutshell, courtesy of Alliance. SW has a cult following, but it is atypical for a "cult classic" because it's following has transcended the boundaries the term is usually defined by.I mean, Star Wars has created an officially recognised religion of around 600,000 Jedi worldwide. That isn't a cult following? Please.
SW is more than cult because it became a Classic. We agree.
SW is and was no cult. SW was a hit movie. The point about cult movies in general is that they are not box office hits, but have despite their lack of populist success a loyal but small fanbase. If the fan base is not small, there's no need to call it a cult.
And Jedi religion was a joke. It doesn't exist because no one can tell you what it is, where and how to practise it. To even discuss that is ridiculous.