Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-15T23:40:09.433Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Sharing European Cult Cinema: Encouraging and Rewarding Fan Enterprise

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2021

Get access

Summary

Abstract

This chapter looks at how European cult cinema is shared, reappropriated and recirculated on an invite only file-sharing community that I refer to as CineTorrent. Drawing on a virtual ethnography of this community, engagement with its members and my own experiences of using the site as autoethnography, I consider how rules and regulations instigated by the moderators of the site both encourage and reward member creativity. I argue that this has led to the generation of a comprehensive archive of cult film in which Italian cult cinema plays a significant role, but also the emergence of a specific group of members who are devoted to making commercially unreleased European cult cinema accessible to English speaking audiences through a variety of do-it-yourself means.

Keywords: file-sharing, technology, torrents, archives, cult film distribution

At the close of the previous chapter, I highlighted how the increasing adoption of the World Wide Web both disrupted fan enterprise, but, at the same time, presented new opportunities for enterprise. The final two chapters of this book focus on European cult cinema fan enterprise taking place online. This chapter considers how fans have responded to declining commercial home video releases of gialli, by taking it upon themselves to archive, reappropriate, and distribute films via an invite only file-sharing community that I refer to as CineTorrent. Drawing on a virtual ethnography of this community, engagement with its members, and my own experiences, I consider how rules and regulations instigated by the moderators of the site both encourage and reward fan enterprise. I argue that this has led to the generation of a comprehensive archive of cult film, in which Italian cult cinema plays a significant role, but also the emergence of a specific group of members who make commercially unreleased gialli accessible to English-speaking audiences through a variety of DIY means. Their work demonstrates a high level of investment in both time and equipment, in some instances mirroring professional media practice. However, unlike those gainfully employed as media professionals, members of CineTorrent receive no obvious financial reward for their production, and display no clear intention to make money out of this fan pursuit; instead, their products are exchanged as gifts amongst the community.I discuss how CineTorrent operates as if it were a factory of fan production, where fans release Italian cult films on DVD by making them available for distribution on CineTorrent.

Type
Chapter
Information
Making European Cult Cinema
Fan Enterprise in an Alternative Economy
, pp. 139 - 166
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×