Talk:Cult classic

This article was nominated for deletion. Please review the prior discussions if you are considering re-nomination:

delete & redirect, 21 August 2007, see discussion.
keep but stubbify, 27 April 2007, see discussion.

Attention: All movies not referred to as a cult movie (i.e. having a cult following or being a cult classic) are being removed from the lists

Demoman87 16:00, 19 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

*This includes Dr. Strangelove. Stop trying to add it because it will just keep getting erased. Demoman87 14:43, 2 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Imo it's worth it to consider Half Baked and How High; maybe not so much How High but Half Baked definitely has a commited group of fans. 70.128.34.87 23:58, 4 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

-Things to consider: Axis and Allies (board game) Shadow of the Colossus (vg) and Chrono Cross (vg)

I figure TradeWars 2002 is definitely a cult classic.. see [1]:

Tradewars, it's a Life, not a Game. At least that's how a lot of people see it, just ask any addict!

There are a lot of door games out there.. but not too many where people spend weeks designing their own customized utilities, scripts, and macros just to get ahead.. — [[Use

Overhaul[edit]

A friend and I have overhauled the Cult classic section. feel free to make edits as you see fit. We found a cult classic to be something with a small and strong following. Those are the criteria for us, so we have edited accordingly. Enjoy. --George The Man 20:57, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think my point was more that I don't think there should be a list associated at all. Perhaps a short example of one or two archetypal cult classics for clarification if need be. I think the definition of the term is too broad to warrant defining a list. For example, looking at my record collection on my desk, I could easily add to the list: Nick Drake, Guided By Voices, Lambchop, Smog, Gersey, Augie March, Boards of Canada, Tindersticks, Giant Sand, Sigur Ros, Tortoise, Mercury Rev, Wilco, Joy Division, Handsome Family, Jim White, Sparklehorse, Bonnie Prince Billy, Velvet Underground, Black Heart Procession, etc, etc... and that is not even getting into the bookshelf I have full of records! All these artists have (or have had) a small but strong following and are critically acclaimed (which doesn't really mean anything anyway). This is even if we take the definition to include the necessary characteristic of having a small following, with which no dictionary definition I have encountered agrees. (Most say either a "particular section" or "exclusive group" or something similar.) As well, some dictionaries define an additional entry under "obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing", as the unsigned wikipedian touched on above, which adds even more possibilities. I propose the removing of the list and the treating of this topic as a normal descriptive word. e.g. red or metal or movie. It is unnecessary and implausible to list every member. I suggest the list be moved to the talk page. --postglock 03:48, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The above suggestion seems to me to be sensible if only because the entire topic appears to be a paradigmic demonstration of value judgements in action - one person's cult classic is another person's old rubbish. Indeed let me go farther with a proposal. Can we retain (I am too new to understand how or where) the current article as an exemplar of value judgement (and seriously value the individuals that created it)? The wikipedia article could be reduced as above or even removed to wikidictionary. (I apologise in advance if I have failed to have the correct formatting with regard to links etc.) --Silver149 6 July 2005 08:32 (UTC)

German Parallel Article[edit]

You might take a look at the German parallel page Kult (Status) for an article on the beautiful cultural phenomenon. --Olaf Simons 21:43, 20 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah the German article seems great - consists mostly of an in-depth historical analysis of the cult classic phenomenon, and only then lists some examples. I like the format of that version, but unfortunately my German is not up to scratch to translate it easily, nor do I possess the required knowledge of the subject matter otherwise. I see someone removed the POV tag, so I've added a {{cleanup-rewrite}} and a {{Translation}} tag, which might be more appropriate. Please don't remove these until the issue is addressed. -- postglock 15:49, 23 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Criterion proposal[edit]

Let`s try to disassemble the meaning down to pieces. Cult implies a following, which is motivated strongly enough to materialise the fictional culture in reality; for example staging acts, dressing in specific clothes, use of jargon and such. Classic means it has reflections in the other`s people art, like sampling my musicians, references in movies, citation/derivation in books.

So what are some examples? I assume Star Wars and maybe Pulp Fiction (it isn't as heavily referenced). Is there a specific film noir that might count? And how old would something need to be? Can you really call something within the past year cult? I don't think so. Of course there is no hard date line, but that can cut down on people adding their fav shows. How are we going to prevent people from just listing stuff? Maybe only have 10 examples and you can only change after discussion on talk page? Otherwise this page will balloon up and be useless again.

--Daev 22:00, 26 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I still think this page is useless until it undergoes a major rewrite involving discussion of cult classics from a meta point of view, including history, impact of society, etc. (cf. German page) As a list, it seems pretty pointless. -- postglock 05:35, 27 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This article feels like a list of people's favorite movies / popular movies. I wouldn't call most of these "genre-defining" or "ground-breaking". Is a good sci-fi flick automatically a cult classic?

-I think people are adding their favorite movies just for the heck of it. I've seen numerous examples like movies being added that haven't even been released yet. I say add a movie only when you've read the article on the movie and it mentions it is a cult movie. Demoman87 03:54, 12 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

links to main articles.[edit]

i'm adding links to the main articles for all these topics. CrazySunshine 15:57, 4 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I am removing the lists to films, tv-series, etc...[edit]

--Jahsonic 09:31, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed Deletion[edit]

I proposed this deletion with the hope that in the aftermath the German article will be translated to create a worthy article for the subject. --Yono 04:51, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Examples[edit]

I just moved the entire examples section to List of cult classics. I believe this vastly improves the article. I hope you agree! Foobaz·o< 02:20, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, the list is now up for deletion. Foobaz·o< 23:51, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Changed redirect[edit]

Hi, I've changed the redirect from "Cult film" to "Cult following". Since many cult classics are NOT films but all cult classics have a cult following, I think this is a more accurate redirection. I'd note, as a specific example, that cult novels that were never made into films, like The Dice Man is described as a cult classic which, previously, linked to cult film.124.157.108.187 (talk) 02:49, 24 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]