A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness!

The classic series The Avengers has frequently popped up on my radar, and it’s usually mentioned in positive terms. And yet, I’ve never bothered to seek it out. Too much to watch already, too many things that come first on my TV bucket list – and that’s before I even get into the favourites I’d like to revisit – if the streaming services of my choice haven’t taken them off their catalogue and erased out of existence, that is. Same with, say, Miami Vice, or Absolutely Fabulous or (don’t tell Alan) Randall and Hopkins (Deceased). And, to be honest, one main reason is that people talked about them with a great sense of reverence – or they don’t talk about them at all. They’re cult TV – and that’s something that tends to make me hesitate.

Which isn’t to say that I’ve not watched any cult TV. I loved Firefly, I greatly enjoyed Hannibal, and you may be able to deduce from the name and header image of this site that I’m not unfond of a certain little TV series (that some might nonetheless refer to as ‘cinema’) called Twin Peaks. But those I all saw when they first aired, or relatively shortly after. I’m not saying this as a snob, I’m not going “Well, I liked Twin Peaks before it became popular!” in a tone of sneering stupidity. It’s more that I watched them without having heard, frequently, how great they were, from people who already loved them – and the cult discourse about series and films (and books and games and…) can make it difficult for me to approach these things with an open mind. I already know I’m supposed to love this, right? There’s always this little voice in my head: “This is great! Finally, you’re watching my favourite! Just wait until you get to that very special episode!” And that voice isn’t mine, but it’s unlikely to shut up until I confirm that I also love this cult series or movie or franchise just as much as it does.

What adds to this is that being a fan of something that’s cult is generally a communal thing. Even if you watch things on your own, you discuss them with others, you know the quotes and the memes and the in-jokes, you argue lists of best (and worst) episodes. And while I love talking about culture, there is something about certain kinds of fan discussion that requires you to be a fan as well. Go into a cult TV group and bring up how you think so-and-so isn’t actually a very good actor or how you really watched the series as much as you did because, at the time, there wasn’t much else to watch? You may well ruin the conversation, for yourself as much as for others.

In an abstract way, I sometimes regret that I cannot connect to this way of enjoying things. I can see that others get enjoyment out of cult TV or cult movie evenings. I’ve been to the occasional local cult movie showing because it was a film I liked or was curious about, but I was always waiting for the audience to start throwing live octopus at the screen (or whatever one does when watching Oldboy as part of a cult cinema club). It’s a kind of interaction with cinema or TV that feels alien to me – not unlike putting on the colours of a sports team, singing the chants, and rooting for your team to score, rather than enjoying a good game regardless of who’s playing and who’s winning.

And the flipside of this is that I miss out on things I might enjoy. I waited decades before finally watching The Prisoner, because I was wary of its cult status. When I finally got that DVD box set and checked out the series, I didn’t necessarily love it, but there was a lot that did appeal to me. It can be difficult to get into cult viewing decades later, but it can be done. I’ve come to enjoy some Doctor Who, I find some of the series (and Doctors) a bit meh. And, honestly? That’s just fine. Just because something is considered cult viewing doesn’t mean that joining the cult is compulsory.