Why It's OK to Love Bad Movies

Matthew Strohl

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000512793
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophie
• Subtopic: Histoire et théorie de la philosophie

Most people are too busy to keep up with all the good movies they'd like to see, so why should anyone spend their precious time watching the bad ones?

In Why It's OK to Love Bad Movies, philosopher and cinematic bottom feeder Matthew Strohl enthusiastically defends a fondness for disreputable films. Combining philosophy of art with film criticism, Strohl flips conventional notions of "good" and "bad" on their heads and makes the case that the ultimate value of a work of art lies in what it can add to our lives. By this measure, some of the worst movies ever made are also among the best.

Through detailed discussions of films such as Troll 2, The Room, Batman & Robin, Twilight, Ninja III: The Domination, and a significant portion of Nicolas Cage's filmography, Strohl argues that so-called "bad movies" are the ones that break the rules of the art form without the aura of artistic seriousness that surrounds the avant-garde. These movies may not win any awards, but they offer rich opportunities for creative engagement and enable the formation of lively fan communities, and they can be a key ingredient in a fulfilling aesthetic life.

Key Features:

• Written in a humorous, approachable style, appealing to readers with no background in philosophy.
• Elaborates the rewards of loving bad movies, such as forming unlikely social bonds and developing refinement without narrowness.
• Discusses a wide range of beloved bad movies, including Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Core, Battlefield Earth, and Freddy Got Fingered.
• Contains the most extensive discussion of Nicolas Cage ever included in a philosophy book.

Index

• acting, silent film 132, 137, 144
• action, genre 73–95, 118–19, 135, 142, 187
• Adaptation 138, 144
• Adkins, S. 84, 119, 166
• aesthetic value 4–6, 24–5, 171–83
• affective community see community
• Anderson, P. T. 188
• Anti-Twilight Movement 102
• Argento, D. 50, 104–5, 181
• Arsenal 147
• artistic intention see intention
• audience participation 53, 61
• avant-garde 14–17, 39–41, 75, 166–7, 173–6, 183

• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans 151, 156
• Bad Movie Love see Love
• Bad Movie Ridicule see Ridicule
• badness, meaning of 3–17, 25–6, 171, 181
• Batman Forever 69–70
• Batman & Robin 68–73, 173
• Battlefield Earth 64–8, 72, 176
• Batsuit, nipples 69–70
• beauty, natural 6
• Berardinelli, J. 99, 163
• Best Worst Movie 47–52
• Birdy 130–1
• Bourdieu, P. 105–6, 122
• Bowles, S. 88–9, 91
• Bringing Out the Dead 144
• Bronyism 109

• Cage, N. 79, 125–169
• Camp: in Batman & Robin 70–2 see also Sontag, S.
• The Cannon Group 73–9, 82, 85, 119–22
• Cantala...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• One The Good, the Bad, and the Good-Bad
• Two Artists’ Intentions and Bad Movie Greatness
• Three A Beautiful Rainbow of Badness
• Four Taste and Twilight
• Five Nicolas Cage and the Limits of the Critical Imagination
• Six Bad Movies and the Good Life
• Notes
• References
• Index