Introduction

Cult films, contrary to what the name seems to inspire at first, have a lot more to them in terms of culturally-oriented aspects and literary goals. The genre is defined, not by confining features but by a combination of certain elements which work to make films fit in it as opposed to being confined in it. This paper seeks to make an analysis of the 1991 Amir Shervan-directed action film Samurai Cop.

Summary

Samurai Cop, just as the name suggests, revolves around a Samurai cop called Joe Marshall. When a Japanese gang (Katana) takes full control of the cocaine trade in Los Angeles, Joe Marshall is brought in by the LAPD from the San Diego Police Department to help out with the looming problem. Joe's bizarre journey through the film begins with a bust gone wrong. The bust ends up in a car chase which results in multiple deaths. The only witness, a Katana gang member, remains unable to testify due to sustained second degree burns. Even then, Fuj Fujiyama, Katana's boss, orders that the injured member's head be cut off and displayed on a piano as a reminder to the rest of the gang's members of their code of silence. Another attempt at bringing the gang to justice ends in bloodshed at a parking lot, with Fuj 's right-hand man executing his own men to maintain the code of silence. Marshall seduces the boss's girlfriend, Jennifer while several of his police associates are tortured and killed by the gang. The commanding officer sanctions the assassination of every gang member of Katana, leading to a bloodbath in Fujiyama's compound. After a final sword fight between Joe and Yamashita, the terror ends and Joe copulates with Jennifer as a celebration.

Cult film aspect analysis

As earlier stated, cult films have a combination of definitive aspects that make them fit into the genre. These stern from four main aspects which are then broken down into sub-aspects in order to identify whether or not a film fits into the category of cult films, including; anatomy, consumption, political economy and cultural status (Mathijs et.al, pg.3).

Anatomy

Anatomy refers to the qualitative aspects of a film. It covers, according to Ernest Mathij s and Xavier Mendik, the feature of the film, its styling and contents as well as format and generic modes. These, in the context of the film in question, encompass:-

Innovation: the introduction of a new technique to filming, whether this innovation is in terms of themes or value. Samurai Cop, while failing to add any new aesthetical approach to the 90s artistry, certainly delivers on thematic innovation. It would be the expectation that a Los Angeles-based police department, especially in the post-cold war era marked by heightened nationalistic capitalism, would bring in an American police officer. However the film strays from this, bending its whole concept on Japanese martial arts culture. This makes it unconventionally innovative.

Badness: The critical consideration of a film as being 'bad,' in this sense being cinematic failures. It can be safely assumed that Samurai Cop squarely falls in this category, infamously acclaimed as being among the worst movies ever made by critics. In a post titled Worst Movies Ever Made, Bill Gordon, a blogger, describes Samurai Cop as a "basic rip-off of Lethal Weapon, except that the Mel Gibson role goes to a non-acting slice of beefcake named Matt Hannon and Danny Glover's part is filled in by a guy named Mark Frazer, who was good enough that he landed the art of 'Young Technician' in the Lois & Clark pilot ..." (Gordon, 2014).

Consumption

With respect to consumption, Samurai Cop strives to fit, barely registering. Consumption is a dynamic that focuses on the receivership; the viewers and followers of the film. However, it is not confined to the numbers of people who watch cult film but the attitudes and behaviors taken towards cult film. In this respect, Samurai Cop is notable for:

Alternative canonization: Samurai Cop, at the advent of its release, was an object of infamous attention. However, the focus of this point is not the people who did not resonate with it but rather those that did. The film has, on a number of occasions, been subjected to "amateurish" lists put up by bloggers and in customer reviews, aspects typical of Mathijs' and Mendik's List­ mania "alternative canon and partisanship of taste typical of cult cinema" (Mathijs et.al, pg.8).

Commitment: While putting a scale to Samurai Cop's audience commitment may be hard, it is safe to assume that there has to be an aspect of commitment with respect to one of the dimensions discussed by Mathijs. The criticism of the film 's content, for example (as seen with Bill Gordon's sentiments), may well be a manifestation of fandom and hence commitment. Would that be atypical? Yes. Is it a conclusive pointer? No. Nonetheless, it cannot be avoided. Other aspects that may fit loosely with these main aspects include rebellion as well as communion and community.

Political economy

In terms of political economy, the focus streams down to the intention behind things such as marketing strategies, peculiar occurrences and economic intention of the producers of a film. Cult films have a tendency of continued viewing even long after their release due to anomalies within their production and marketing that affects cultural orientations towards them. These are looked at in terms of production, promotion and reception. Samurai Cop, with respect to this, has gained some following due to certain idiosyncratic aspects of its production. The director, Amir Shervan, for example, has been known for ten consecutive films which, in the mainstream canonization, have all been failures. This gives him a cultic appearance; a sort of niche. In addition, a manifestation of Samurai Cop's Political economy is the fact that a revamped version was produced in 2010 (Gordon, 2014).

Cultural status

When it comes to cultural status, the scale revolves around strangeness, allegory, cultural sensitivities and politics. Samurai Cop is certainly considerable as a strange film because of its lea on an Oriental culture. To people living in the United States, who are of a Western culture, Samurai Cop becomes a curious film. It also scores points on cultural sensitivity, being deviant in its portrayal of culturally sensitive things such as sex, drug culture and violence. Being that it escapes from the confines of the norm, it becomes culturally insensitive and thus cultic. With respect to politics, it's depiction of a revolutionist culture and strange approach towards issues may have put it out of favor with 'politically-correct' schools of thought. But this only works to make it the more closer to a cult film

Conclusion

It suffices to say that Samurai Cop is a cult film. In Mathij s' words, a cult film, "highly committed and rebellious in its appreciation, its audience regularly finds itself at odds with the prevailing cultural mores, displaying a preference for strange topics and allegorical themes that rub against cultural sensitivities and resist dominant politics" (Mathij s et.al, pg.13). Samurai Cop has multiple aspects that make it comfortably fit into this category of films and thus can be classified as a cult film.