“You’re like my own personal brand of heroin”: the film franchise “Twilight” as a cult popular women’s film
https://doi.org/10.58186/2782-3660-2023-3-4-128-168
Abstract
Over the past two decades, the study of so-called marginal or non-prestigious spheres of cinema has become a priority in cinema studies, and one such direction is cult cinema. In contemporary academia, there are two largely conflicting approaches to the study and definition of this phenomenon: classical and mainstream. Drawing on the theories of modern researchers (Ernest Mathijs, Jamie Sexton, Xavier Mendik, Mark Yankovich, and others), the author identifies the crucial components of a popular film necessary to describe the process of forming its cult status, focusing on mainstream female cult cinema. Thus, the examination of the anatomy of films, their distribution, perception (fandom and anti-fandom), and cultural context forms the basis of the proposed theoretical model of the applied aspect of the study. Using this model and the approaches of Claudia Bucciferro, Dana Och, Gary Jenkins, Jonathan Gray, and Bethan Jones, the author explores the process of forming the cult status of popular films in the 21st century using the example of the “The Twilight Saga” film franchise.
About the Author
E. Bykovskaia
National Research University — Higher School of Economics (HSE University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ekaterina Bykovskaia
Moscow
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Review
For citations:
Bykovskaia E. “You’re like my own personal brand of heroin”: the film franchise “Twilight” as a cult popular women’s film. Versus. 2023;3(4):128-168. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.58186/2782-3660-2023-3-4-128-168
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