Fcked Up Cinema
"Fucked Up Cinema" taps into the raw energy of '90s counterculture, blending daring content with non-traditional narratives in a sub-genre driven by youth, drugs, and road trips, capturing the spirit of the era.
90s Cult Classic The Doom Generation, shared via Dazed. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.
A genre dubbed 'Fucked Up Cinema' characterizes a sub-genre believed to have peaked in the 90s, encompassing themes of youth, drugs, road trips, and queer undertones. As numerous films address these themes, this discussion will focus on three specific films that exemplify the mentioned elements.
The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation is an obscure film that was disliked when it was released. It even provoked such a strong reaction that the father of one of the lead actors, McGowan, threatened to kill director Araki. So, what makes this film so unbearable for its viewers? There are certainly many understandable factors. Homosexuality, drug use, and harsh profanity stand out at first glance.
The Doom Generation, which treads on the edges of marginal thoughts, became the most important film that inspired me when defining the "Fucked Up Cinema" genre. Like its counterparts, this film was met with great backlash when it first premiered, but as experimentalism in cinema gained dimension, it became one of the narratives that found a reasonable place. The most important element that separates this genre from being cult is that the purpose of its production is as "fucked up" as the film itself.
The film's director, Gregg Araki, says, "All I wanted when making the film was for it to be excessive, unnecessary, and over the top." To me, this attitude is one of the important arguments of Fucked Up Cinema. The purpose in the narrative reaches an understanding far from appealing to the general public by keeping the film at a worthless point. Cinema should create itself and be filtered through time. In my opinion, the only way to produce a timeless product—to allow the narrative to change form in consumer consciousness—is to be content with the chaos you produce. I'm talking about the producer merely asserting their existence without showing the slightest break in their flow of mind and without creating success criteria.
One of the elements that makes The Doom Generation controversial is the use of language and, of course, its offensiveness. We're talking about such strange moments of slang that at some point it becomes impossible to focus on the content of the text, and you find yourself caught up in the creativity of the sentences. Or you hate it. On the other hand, the "highly sexual and unique journey" of three friends turns into a hard-to-digest scenario for the 90s audience. Although this narrative of sexuality has become more common in today's cinema, it seems it was difficult to find supporters for this narrative at that time. While it still takes time to absorb "Jules and Jim" directed by Truffaut in 1962, I feel like I need to understand this. The Doom Generation is a sexual thriller and road movie filled with absurdities. All the elements have been put in place to make this film feel "fucked up" and it's waiting for you to watch it.
My Own Private Idaho
My Own Private Idaho revolves around a main character with narcolepsy. In this film, we also encounter the hallmarks of "Fucked Up Cinema" such as drugs, queer elements, and journey. Inspired by Shakespeare, the production offers an interesting perspective on street culture, search for identity, friendship, and sex work.
Timeless films like My Own Private Idaho add a whole new value to cinema by allowing immortal literary works to be interpreted differently. At its core a road movie, Idaho doesn't just talk about a concrete journey. It also tells the journey of identity, spiritual feelings, and class isolation. We can say that Shakespeare creates a safe ground for ideas told at extreme points, such as overlooked sexuality. Bold actors and dialogues demonstrate a solid attitude in strengthening the narrative and standing behind the work presented.
While discussing this quite daring film, I'd like to point out that it didn't receive as much criticism as "The Doom Generation", even though their production years were almost the same. I think this is supported by the Shakespearean narrative standing behind the film like a superhero cape. Dispersing the perception in the viewer's mind by creating an ethical contrast and creating a suffocating cinema experience by cramming many elements into that cloud of thought... This is also what "Fucked Up Cinema" is about.
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Speaking of cramming many elements into a cloud of thought, we can't forget to mention Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Although this film, filled with absurdism, chaos, and drugs from start to finish, is difficult to follow, it provides us with a perfect journey thanks to its superior quality cinematography.
While "Vegas" inscribes its name under the general genres as a dark comedy, it also fully embodies the term "Fucked Up Cinema", the subgenre I coined. I strongly recommend this production that creates chaos from beginning to end, doesn't force you to find deep meanings, and makes you feel like you're a hitchhiker; it's definitely a film that needs to be on my shelf when coining this genre. I don't want to waste time explaining the plot of the film, and I should also mention that you don't need to understand the plot. The film, which progresses at a dizzying speed, doesn't care about your adaptation or attention span at all. Just like the characters who act entirely according to their own truths, the camera, story, and narrative don't adhere to any ethics. Perhaps it would be most logical to define "Fucked Up Cinema" through this film: Cinema that creates its own truth. The production, which criticizes the American Dream with plenty of satire, fulfills the elements of dark comedy in all aspects. It's worth underlining that Johnny Depp delivers one of his best acting performances.
