The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema by Dr. Ernest Mathijs



Our UBC Bachelor of Media Studies and Film Studies professor, Dr. Ernest Mathijs, recently published the book, The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema. Read more about his book below.

The Routledge Companion to Cult Cinema
Dr. Ernest Mathijs, Professor, Theatre and Film

What is your book about?

The book gives an overview of cult cinema — unusual films that speak to viewers like no others, because they’re weird, hyperbolic, unhinged: The Rocky Horror Picture ShowDonnie DarkoEraserhead, or Canadian films such as the feminist werewolf film Ginger Snaps or the prophetic Videodrome. The book addresses the topic outside of Western cinema and re-balances gender perspectives, drawing attention to women filmmakers and stars and stressing how non-normativity is key to understanding cult cinema.

What inspired you to write this book?

The study of cult cinema has rapidly gained momentum in the last 7 or 8 years, and I have been fortunate to be part of that acceleration. UBC was one of the first universities to devote a course to the topic (Maclean’s called that course the coolest course on campus two years in a row), and my Department supported an international symposium on cult cinema in 2015. This book was inspired by that. It contains a diversity of voices that leads the surge in research and pedagogical interest. Next to that, I was inspired by the observation that cult cinema refuses to adhere to binary and normative rules – it gives the middle finger to dictates of taste, ideology and conformity. And the world needs that alternative voice, especially now.