Cult Collectors

Cult Collectors examines cultures of consumption and the fans who collect cult film and TV merchandise. Author Lincoln Geraghty argues that there has been a change in the fan convention space, where collectible merchandise and toys, rather than just the fictional text, have become objects for trade, nostalgia, and a focal point for fans’ personal narratives. New technologies also add to this changing identity of cult fandom whereby popular websites such as eBay and ThinkGeek become cyber sites of memory and profit for cult fan communities. The book opens with an analysis of the problematic representations of fans and fandom in film and television. Stereotypes of the fan and collector as portrayed in series such as The Big Bang Theory and films like The 40 Year Old Virgin are discussed alongside changes in consumption practices and the mainstreaming of cult media. Following this, theoretical chapters consider issues of gender, representation, nostalgia and the influence of social media. Finally, extended case study chapters examine in detail the connections between the fan community and the commodities bought and sold. Topics discussed include: The San Diego Comic-Con and the cult geographies of the fan convention Hollywood memorabilia and collecting cinema history The Star Wars franchise, merchandising and the adult collector Online stores and the commercialisation of cult fandom Mattel, Hasbro and nostalgia for animated eighties children’s television

Dorothy K. Billings' unique ethnography is based on thirty-five years of anthropological fieldwork in Papua New Guinea. Cargo Cult as Theater offers anthropologists, and anyone interested in the Johnson cult, careful insight into this unlikely cultural phenomenon.

The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema offers an overview of the field of cult cinema – films at the margin of popular culture and art that have received exceptional cultural visibility and status mostly because they break rules, offend, and challenge understandings of achievement (some are so bad they’re good, others so good they remain inaccessible). Cult cinema is no longer only comprised of the midnight movie or the extreme genre film. Its range has widened and the issues it broaches have become battlegrounds in cultural debates that typify the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Sections are introduced with the major theoretical frameworks, philosophical inspirations, and methodologies for studying cult films, with individual chapters excavating the most salient criticism of how the field impacts cultural discourse at large. Case studies include the worst films ever; exploitation films; genre cinema; multiple media formats cult cinema is expressed through; issues of cultural, national, and gender representations; elements of the production culture of cult cinema; and, throughout, aspects of the aesthetics of cult cinema – its genre, style, look, impact, and ability to yank viewers out of their comfort zones. The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema goes beyond the traditional scope of Anglophone and North American cinema by including case studies of East and South Asia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, making it an innovative and important resource for researchers and students alike.

Cult Film as a Guide to Life investigates the world and experience of cult films, from well-loved classics to the worst movies ever made. Including comprehensive studies of cult phenomena such as trash films, exploitation versions, cult adaptations, and case studies of movies as different as Showgirls, Room 237 and The Lord of the G-Strings, this lively, provocative and original book shows why cult films may just be the perfect guide to making sense of the contemporary world. Using his expertise in two fields, I.Q. Hunter also explores the important overlap between cult film and adaptation studies. He argues that adaptation studies could learn a great deal from cult and fan studies about the importance of audiences' emotional investment not only in texts but also in the relationships between them, and how such bonds of caring are structured over time. The book's emergent theme is cult film as lived experience. With reference mostly to American cinema, Hunter explores how cultists, with their powerful emotional investment in films, care for them over time and across numerous intertexts in relationships of memory, nostalgia and anticipation.

This carefully crafted ebook: "ROBERT E. HOWARD Ultimate Collection – 300+ Cult Classics, Adventure Novels, Western, Horror & Detective Stories, Historical Books (Including Poetry, Essays, Articles & Letters) - ALL in One Volume" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Robert Ervin Howard (1906 – 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. In the pages of the Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales, Howard created Conan the Barbarian, a character whose cultural impact has been compared to such icons as Batman, Count Dracula, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan. Table of Contents: Fantasy Stories: 'Conan the Barbarian' Stories The 'Kull' Stories The 'Solomon Kane' Stories The 'Bran Mak Morn' Stories The 'Turlogh Dubh O'Brien' Stories The 'James Allison' Stories Other Fantasy Stories Boxing Stories: The 'Sailor Steve Costigan' Stories Other Boxing Stories Western Stories: The 'Breckinridge Elkins' Stories The 'Pike Bearfield' Stories The 'Buckner Jeopardy Grimes' Stories Other Western Stories Historical Stories: The 'El Borak' Stories The 'Cormac Fitzgeoffrey' Stories The 'Kirby O'Donnell' Stories The 'Black Vulmea' Stories The 'Helen Tavrel' Story Other Historical Stories Horror Stories: The 'John Kirowan' Stories The Faring Town Saga The 'De Montour' Stories The Weird West Stories Other Weird Menace Other Cthulhu Mythos Stories Other Horror Stories Detective Stories: The 'Steve Harrison' Stories Spicy Stories: The 'Wild Bill Clanton' Stories Poetry Essays and Articles Letters A Tribute Poem

This book is the first to explore handicrafting practiced by media fans, their online fan communities and the multiple meanings they create. Based on in-depth ethnographic research into fans on the online social network for knitters, crocheters and crafters, Ravelry, Brigid Cherry explores textile craft by fans as both an artistic practice and transformative fan work. Including case studies of projects inspired by Doctor Who, True Blood, Firefly, Harry Potter, Sherlock and steampunk, the book engages with many forms of fan production, including fan art, fan fiction and cosplay. Fans of popular films and TV shows are increasingly engaging with textile crafts as a way of reworking, reimagining and engaging with cult media texts. Proving a global phenomenon amongst fan cultures in the digital media sphere, traditional film and TV audiences are forging their fan identities and participating in wider fan communities in innovative ways through online craft forums and blogs that showcase their knitting, crochet, spinning and dyeing projects. Exploring key debates from textile and media theory, surrounding gender, domesticity, the culture industries, audiences and fan culture, this book is essential reading for students of textiles, media studies, fashion, cultural and gender studies.

This carefully crafted ebook: "ROBERT E. HOWARD Ultimate Collection – 300+ Cult Classics, Adventure Novels, Western, Horror & Detective Stories, Historical Books (Including Poetry, Essays, Articles & Letters) - ALL in One Volume" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Robert Ervin Howard (1906 – 1936) was an American author who wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subgenre. In the pages of the Depression-era pulp magazine Weird Tales, Howard created Conan the Barbarian, a character whose cultural impact has been compared to such icons as Batman, Count Dracula, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan. Table of Contents: Fantasy Stories: 'Conan the Barbarian' Stories The 'Kull' Stories The 'Solomon Kane' Stories The 'Bran Mak Morn' Stories The 'Turlogh Dubh O'Brien' Stories The 'James Allison' Stories Other Fantasy Stories Boxing Stories: The 'Sailor Steve Costigan' Stories Other Boxing Stories Western Stories: The 'Breckinridge Elkins' Stories The 'Pike Bearfield' Stories The 'Buckner Jeopardy Grimes' Stories Other Western Stories Historical Stories: The 'El Borak' Stories The 'Cormac Fitzgeoffrey' Stories The 'Kirby O'Donnell' Stories The 'Black Vulmea' Stories The 'Helen Tavrel' Story Other Historical Stories Horror Stories: The 'John Kirowan' Stories The Faring Town Saga The 'De Montour' Stories The Weird West Stories Other Weird Menace Other Cthulhu Mythos Stories Other Horror Stories Detective Stories: The 'Steve Harrison' Stories Spicy Stories: The 'Wild Bill Clanton' Stories Poetry Essays and Articles Letters A Tribute Poem

A television series is tagged with the label "cult" by the media, advertisers, and network executives when it is considered edgy or offbeat, when it appeals to nostalgia, or when it is considered emblematic of a particular subculture. By these criteria, almost any series could be described as cult. Yet certain programs exert an uncanny power over their fans, encouraging them to immerse themselves within a fictional world. In Cult Television leading scholars examine such shows as The X-Files; The Avengers; Doctor Who, Babylon Five; Star Trek; Xena, Warrior Princess; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to determine the defining characteristics of cult television and map the contours of this phenomenon within the larger scope of popular culture. Contributors: Karen Backstein; David A. Black, Seton Hall U; Mary Hammond, Open U; Nathan Hunt, U of Nottingham; Mark Jancovich; Petra Kuppers, Bryant College; Philippe Le Guern, U of Angers, France; Alan McKee; Toby Miller, New York U; Jeffrey Sconce, Northwestern U; Eva Vieth Sara Gwenllian-Jones is a lecturer in television and digital media at Cardiff University and co-editor of Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media. Roberta E. Pearson is a reader in media and cultural studies at Cardiff University. She is the author of the forthcoming book Small Screen, Big Universe: Star Trek and Television.