The Art We Almost Miss
A cult movie is defined as a film with a small but dedicated fanbase that develops over time, often after an unsuccessful initial release. These films are the ones that shape future cinema, but subtly so, with years of dormancy that eventually blossom into a cultural phenomenon or bolster a career to the highest heights (Tarantino with Pulp Fiction or Pitt with Fight Club).
My favorite book when I was a kid was without a doubt 500 Essential Cult Movies: The Ultimate Guide written by J. P. Rutter, Jennifer Eiss, and Steve White. I didn’t understand why this book entranced me so much, but it got to the point where every day after school, I’d hop on the couch and immerse myself in this ripped and tattered book. It was a fantasy book to me, akin to Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, but every new page was a window into a whole new world. When I became old enough to start watching some of these obscure movies, I fell in love with them. Of course, some I didn’t understand or love, but that was part of the process. Eventually, this blossomed into my love for film in general, and it all started with exploring movies deemed to be unpopular and even hard to find at times. Getting my love for philosophical themes from Stalker (1979), or beginning my satire fondness with The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989).
I believe that Hollywood (or movies in general) has turned into an exploitation of an algorithm that has been shaped over years of consumption, which are now created to churn out as many cookie-cutter movies as possible. All these Star Wars spin-off series (some turn out to be good, yes) have blended together in my mind as I feel they all follow the same framework. Many people don’t even know that A New Hope was considered a cult movie that eventually grew into one of the biggest fantasy universes ever created. Or the recent Dune remakes, which I do like with the big scale and complex plot, which I feel has been boxed into this same algorithm, with big explosions and moments that seem to forget it came from a movie that lost money at the box office when it first released, but eventually became a cult classic and a universe that was so extensive it needed 23 books to fully cover the lore.
Just because a film is widely loved doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it. Just because a film is a disappointment at the box office or is getting piled onto online doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it.
These movies, the ones that aren’t shoved down our throats with huge marketing pushes or big actors being needlessly cast are the ones that people should be watching. These are the movies that allow people to experience true art and form true personal opinions, not shaped by a TikTok raving about the movie or an Instagram post calling for all viewers to not waste their time watching it. It’s something I’ve noticed from others and myself, where I ask my friends to go see a movie, but I hear things like “I heard it isn’t good”. What? If you haven’t seen the movie, how could you have such strong opinions that you don’t want to even give it a chance? Two hours and twenty dollars to possibly find a new universe to immerse yourself in? To give you a reason to get through that school day and get lost in a new world? That’s something you can’t get from the latest Marvel series, of which the whole plot seems to consist of callbacks and riding on its coattails from a decade ago.
I may be giving off the impression that I’m a scathing critic of modern filmmaking, begging to go back to the ‘good old days’, but I’m not. I really love some modern movies, and they continue to bring me joy watching them. Movies like Sinners, or One Battle After Another, have come to be some of my favorites. I just feel that with all these new blockbuster movies, the ‘little’ niche films, ones with the opportunity to become a new world that viewers can immerse themselves in, have come to be incredibly underappreciated. Just because a film is widely loved doesn’t mean you have to enjoy it. Just because a film is a disappointment at the box office or is getting piled onto online doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it. If every single person on earth had the same opinions and things they enjoyed, it wouldn’t be a very exciting place to exist.
The days of drive-in and family-owned outdoor theaters are gone, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose the consumption and production of personal and smaller films; we just have to switch mediums.
However, with technology evolution comes new and unique ways to present digital art. One of the biggest examples is the platform YouTube. The days of drive-in and family-owned outdoor theaters are gone, but that doesn’t mean we have to lose the consumption and production of personal and smaller films; we just have to switch mediums. Some of the best productions I’ve seen have been thirty-minute short films on YouTube, posted to a channel with less than twenty thousand subscribers. These examples include ones made with existential themes, such as TIMELAPSE OF THE FUTURE: A Journey to the End of Time, or an animated short with gripping storytelling, such as The Present. The videos that entrance me are the ones that you can feel the heart and effort put in, where you can see the artist making their work the best it can be, without worrying about studio deadlines or consumer expectations. Works of art like these have led to opportunities like the one presented to Wesley Wang, where he was picked up by a production studio after one of the executives saw a thirteen-minute short film he filmed and posted on YouTube while in college.
Stories like this show us the importance of viewing and appreciating small films and filmmakers, as without fandom around these ‘small’ (sometimes unpopular) pieces of work, the world of art becomes an oversaturated field of algorithmic works, made for the general consumer to watch once and never again think about. These universes that have become such an integral part of pop culture have blossomed from small movies and projects that get the love and admiration they deserve. This is a responsibility that falls upon us, as we are the audience these artists try to reach and connect with. This responsibility isn’t one that comes with a great deal of effort, but one that can be achieved by being conscious of our consumption of art, and in doing so, we can create a more vibrant and unique world that gives opportunities for anyone to create and share incredible works of art.