The Curator: what makes a cult classic
how to spot one in the wild, my favorite cult films & books, and everything I'm using my eyeballs to consume.
I read this Atlantic article “Six Cult Classics You Have to Read” which is a very interesting list of six books I have never heard of. It first made me curious and then defensive - who exactly is knowing about these great books without me - until I realized this was just one writer’s list based on personal experience and anecdotal evidence. Phew.
It did get me thinking though - what exactly is a cult classic? How do we define it and what do others consider up for the list? What secret cool clubs am I not in (or a part of without even knowing it)? If something is well-known enough to make such a list, does it even meet the requirements any longer?
Google searches do not lead to rigorous scholarship on the topic, but common themes appear. A cult classic film or book is one that was not commercially successful upon release but over time has accumulated a fervent group of admirers. Some definitions suggest that these admirers consider the art to be peak specimen1, while others suggest supporters read or watch ironically, recognizing the low quality of the art even while enjoying it2.
Why a book or film (let’s throw show or record in there too) was not initially “successful” seems to be a function of the themes explored in cult classics - things like alienation, niche interests, or just plain being weird. The art doesn’t immediately resonate with traditional audiences, and the bean counters call it a flop. Viewers or readers then rediscover the text through repeated interaction over time, claiming it as their own. This definition purposefully excludes traditionally successful IP with a “cult-like” following (i.e. Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc.), where its initial acceptance makes it too broadly appreciated to fit the very hipster definition.
My most favorite film example is the 1993 banger Hocus Pocus directed by THEE Kenny Ortega and featuring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy. Released in July of that year, it was a box office catastrophe (Halloween movie in summer, you don’t say? 🙄). However, by the miracle of cable, the Disney Channel resurrected it every October, spawning a generation of millennials obsessed with this arguably mediocre film3. While I love it more than almost any other childhood film, I recognize its cinematic limitations. There certainly were a few years where my idolatry ironic-ed so hard I almost grew a fedora. Yet it is the love of a cultish fandom that kept it alive long enough to see a 2022 sequel produced.
It’s fairly easy to spot a cult classic film, and the internet is rife with lists. Films like Donnie Darko, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or The Big Lebowski are usually at the top. Personal favorites include The Craft, Return to Oz, and a show I still on DVD, Veronica Mars, which was ALSO resurrected by the power of an underground cult fandom strong enough to get Hulu to see dollar signs.
Books, on the other hand, aren’t as straightforward.
How to spot a cult classic book in the wild
When I was in college, I had a coworker at Abercrombie & Fitch who carried around his copy of House of Leaves like a totem (we worked in the stock room with the less desirables, just in case you were wondering how an early 2000s A&F shirtless “model” read strange books). While I never saw him actually read it, he spoke of it with a reverent knowing, suggesting those who got it, got it. I felt compelled to ask him about it, falling right into his trap. But I didn’t care, I wanted in.
It is this feeling I search for when considering a cult classic novel. For me, it’s more complicated to compile a list of cult classic books versus movies for whatever reason (the time equity gap, the accessibility, the audience). It’s easy to throw something on a list and make bold, unsubstantiated claims. It’s difficult to capture the zeitgeist of a book on a heterogeneous culture. But this quote from an American Library Association article really nails it:
I read it in one sitting. I can tell you how old I was, the season, what the weather outside was like, what time I started the book, when I finished it, how often I got yelled at and told to get out of that chair and do something constructive, and how I would not shut up about it for many weeks thereafter. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley was my first foray into cult fiction and it will forever be emblazoned as my “life-changing” text of choice. This is what cult fiction books do to their faithful followers: they inspire, amuse, and amaze their readers, they stir the emotions and mesmerize, they evoke passion, and they etch themselves into their reader’s memory4.
There are an infinite number of potential cult classic novels, and truthfully it appears very personal a la the Atlantic list. Thus, the only way to spot a cult classic in the wild is by examining tribe behavior.
Signs you are in a cult classic book club
If any of the following resonates with you, you are in a cult classic book club.
Your favorite novel from high school is The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams because the hippie teacher gave it to you and you felt seen.
You read Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and now refer to him as DFW during your Infinite Jest inside joke drinking games.
You read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides and now list sad girl lit as your top genre on your Instagram profile.
You tell everyone who hates Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho that they “just don’t get it’s a satire on American consumerism”.
You read Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan because Harry Styles read Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan and you said you liked it even though you totally didn’t get it.
VC Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic is the reason you now have a therapist.
You carry around a copy of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski just so people will ask you about it 🙃
What do you think? Are you in a cult classic book club? Anything you would add??
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WATCHING 📽️→
TWIN PEAKS. This is the weirdest, wackiest thing I have ever seen in my life and that includes my formative years with Ren & Stimpy. It’s a campy, melodramatic riff on mysteries and soap operas that could only come from the mind of someone like creator David Lynch. The music alone will have you questioning if you’ve been hypnotized right into a schizophrenic’s dream. I would argue this is also a part of the Cult Classics club, and is one reason I got fixated on this topic!
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AND CATS 🐈⬛→
I was under the weather this week (hence the late appearance in your inbox) but a cat nap at lunch one day really jumpstarted the healing process.
If you are observant (and not new, hello new readers!), you may have noticed the newsletter name shift. It’s all a part of my master plan to let people know that I write about books (mostly). Not much else will change around here so don’t worry you won’t have to keep trying to remember who I am next week.
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See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Collins Dictionary, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/cult-classic
Anythink, https://www.anythinklibraries.org/blog/cult-classics-and-classic-cults
Wikki on Hocus Pocus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hocus_Pocus_(1993_film
American Library Association, “Tapping into the Appeal of Cult Fiction” https://journals.ala.org/index.php/rusq/article/view/3600/3934
I LOVE TWIN PEAKS i am so happy you are discovering it for the first time!!!! it’s such a wonderfully strange show I don’t even have words to accurately describe it. and it just gets more insane as it goes on
I would like to nominate GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn as a cult classic, it is an absolutely whacky novel about a family that runs a circus!