Not a Film, but an Object: Emotional Politics of Appreciating Badfilm
Not a Film, but an Object: Emotional Politics of Appreciating Badfilm

Summary/Abstract: The films embraced by the viewers due to their formal and/or aesthetic incompetence (e.g. technical flaws, lousy acting, cheap special effects, baffling storylines) are called “so bad, it’s good,” “good-bad film” or simply “badfilm”. Badfilm, which constitutes a form of subcultural counter-aesthetics, overthrows traditional hierarchies of taste. Despite being positioned at the lowest end of film industry, badfilms are mostly embraced by cinephiles who seem to believe they have good taste. In order to elaborate on this paradoxical case, this article suggests that the cult interest in badfilms relies to a great extent upon emotional engagement. Through analyses of textual and extratextual features of Fateful Findings (Neil Breen,2013), in conjunction with its various receptions, the badfilm appreciation will be investigated. Neil Breen’s films are championed by virtue of their massive failures. They make viewers think of the films as artifacts rather than story-worlds. As a conclusion, the meta-level emotional responses called “artifact emotions” (Tan, Plantinga), due in no small part to “schadenfreude” (enjoyment derived from the troubles or failures of others) provide a basis for the collective appreciation of badfilms.

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