Stranger Than Paradise - (Cultographies) by Jamie Sexton (Paperback)

About the Book

This book probes the production history, initial reception, aesthetics, and legacy of Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise in order to understand its place in the cult film canon. It explores early-1980s New York downtown culture and Jarmusch's involvement in music, as well as reflecting on the film's status alongside Jarmusch's subsequent output.

Book Synopsis

A low-budget breakout film that wowed critics and audiences on its initial release, Stranger Than Paradise would prove to be a seminal film in the new American independent cinema movement and establish its director, Jim Jarmusch, as a hip, cult auteur. Taking inspiration from 1960s underground filmmaking, international art cinema, genre cinema, and punk culture, Jarmusch's film provides a bridge between midnight movie features and a new mode of quirky, offbeat independent filmmaking. This book probes the film's production history, initial reception, aesthetics, and legacy in order to understand its place within the cult film canon. In examining the film's cult pedigree, it explores a number of threads that fed into the film--including New York downtown culture of the early 1980s and Jarmusch's involvement in music--as well as reflecting on how the film's status has developed alongside Jarmusch's subsequent output and reputation.

Review Quotes

This volume [is] the first book length study of an important and frequently taught art-cult movie. Arguing that Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise didn't come to cult status in the usual way, the volume makes an important intervention in the way we define cult movies and assign cult status, and an intervention in the way we frame the entire "cult" discussion.--Joan Hawkins, Indiana University

An excellent, lucid account that maps the position of Stranger Than Paradise via a number of intersections between the realms of cult, art, independent, and punk-related cinema. Offers an accessible but substantial analysis of industrial, formal, and thematic dimensions of what remains an enduring indie classic.--Geoff King, Brunel University

About the Author

Jamie Sexton is senior lecturer in film and television studies at Northumbria University. He is the coauthor of Cult Cinema (2011).