Cult Film Nicolas Winding Refns Drive And David...

The key concept to be explored is genre and my investigation will revolve around focused research on the expansive genre of cult film, as I look to not only elaborate on it, but also try to clarify it. Utilising the work of theorists Sconce, Fiske, Austin and many others, I will base my research around two contrasting texts that are both connected by cult film – Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and David Fincher’s Fight Club, analysing not only how their technical and visual codes help to give them cult status, but also how their audience appeal ties in with niche psychometrics and cult film overall. Since its beginnings in the 1950s with movies like Plan 9 from Outer Space and The Blob, cult film has never utilised one set of conventions†¦show more content†¦This case can also be reemphasised by theorists Fiske and Jancovitch too, as both have looked to create compelling connections between audience reception procedures and cult film also. What’s more, many of these theorists have also come to contend theoretical responses about the conception of ‘resurrection’ in cult film – the ideology that one way for a film to achieve its cult status is through being ‘revived’ from its bumpy origins in production or commercial disappointments at the box-office through the lasting appreciation of niche audiences. This therefore means that the film will survive in an oppositional context to what Fiske declared as the ‘more â€Å"normal† popular audiences’ of that period. In addition, it is this ideology of ‘resurrectio n’ within cult film that David Fincher’s Fight Club illustrates. â€Å"’Fight Club’ sold 13 million DVDs. It paid for itself.† proclaimed auteur David Fincher, whose text back in 1999 was financially unsuccessful, but soon gained cult status through its DVD releases and fandom events that were a commercial hit. Subjectively following the point of view of Brad Pitt’s rebellious protagonist Tyler Durden and his coming of age society, Fight Club is a present-day touchstone for audiences to recognise the