An entire class devoted to cult films sounds too good to be true - but here at Ohio University, the Survey of Cult Films class is a blessed thing - at least for this quarter.
OU graduate student Ben Lathrop proposed the cult films class as an elaboration of his thesis as well as for the teaching experience.
The class is discussion-based, with in and out of class screenings. Students have weekly writing assignments that will ultimately be combined into one larger document as a final project, Lathrop said.
It explores defining what a cult film is, the theory behind them and how behaviors toward them are changing. For example, where fans in the past would dress up to see Rocky Horror Picture Show
fans now are migrating to fan communities and other activities on the Internet, he said.
One of the challenges of studying popular culture is the classes sound fun, but entertainment is not the purpose of the class, Lathrop said.
On Tuesday, students viewed Wild Zero a film about a Japanese rock 'n' roll band that fights zombies and also features a romance. As the movies get more and more bizarre, it gets harder to think about the film critically, he said.
Among the movies Lathrop has shown are Reefer Madness and Rocky Horror Picture Show. He also is planning a day of just movie trailers and clips.
The cult films class filled up in about two hours, and Lathrop gave pink slips to about eight people. About 20 people are in the class.
Lathrop said the trick to getting into a graduate-proposed class is to wait until right before classes start for the quarter, because the graduate student-proposed classes often do not show up until then. Lathrop promoted the class with fliers around campus.
Joan Pittman, a telecommunications major who pink slipped into the class said she wanted to take it because most of the films came out when she was a teenager.
As a non-traditional student I thought it would be interesting and fun to view films from a critical standpoint
she said. I was a teenager when a lot of them came out. I didn't watch with the same view point.
Pittman said she still has an original ticket stub from a 1978 showing of Rocky Horror Show
which later became known as Rocky Horror Picture Show. Because she is older than the other students, she feels she can bring a new element to the class.
I think I've been able to bring a different perspective to class because I was alive when the movies came out
she said. I can talk about the climate
what was going on in the country at the time
what teenagers were like.
And Pittman said though a class that focuses solely on cult films may sound like an easy A, it is a lot of work, with readings from texts and weekly writing assignments.
It's not an easy class
but it's a good class
she said. It's what you make it.
