Are Cinephiles Really Cringy?

Martin A (2008) 'What's cult got to do with it? In defense of cinephile elitism', Cineaste,34(l):3942.

This decade has been characterized by the gradual disappearance of the technological barriers that have long hampered the downloading of large files, in tandem with the spread of ADSL and the rise of streaming 1. Few studies, however, have looked at downloading and streaming from the perspective of the sociology of consumption, considering these content appropriation practices as a means of determining a trend in cinephiles' taste for the cinema object. On the basis of a qualitative survey, we look at the motivations behind downloading and streaming, relating them to the emergence of new cinephilic behaviours ("niche" and "rarity" cinephilias).

Todd Adkins and Jeremy Castle published the results of their research in an article in Social Science Quarterly, titled “Moving Pictures? Experimental Evidence of Cinematic Influence on Political Attitudes.” The article received a great deal of attention from mainstream media—including news stories on Slate.com and in the National Catholic Register, among others.

An influx of foreign films that had been withheld during the Occupation, as well as the screening programs of local film clubs and the Cinémathèque Française, generated interest in world cinema amongst the city's intellectual youth culture. In general, the cinephiles of the period set a template for future like-minded groups by having keen enthusiasm for both older and contemporary films.

(Before this offends too many people, it’s a joke, and I’m one of them too) There are many fake film lovers out there. From people who recommend a movie they’ve never seen just to sound individualistic, to those who gush over one specific director. For the sake of the mockery, I’ve ...

The term “cinephile” sounds pretentious, right? Identifying as a cinephile means you are an individual who is fascinated and has a passionate interest in cinema. To me, that means you also have an appreciation for cinema. It’s funny sometimes that people find that cinephiles, and film critics especially, love film so much that they hate…

My point is this: to be a cinephile in the 21st century is to be doing research into the movies that you’re going to watch, rather than watching anything and everything. Instead of just randomly picking some movie from Netflix, I actually look at their selection.

Being pretentious and flashy is still in movies, but can we consider the film before labeling it with the term? That is the issue with a lot of so-called “cinephiles.” Nobody wants to take the time to think about a film. What happened to breaking down a character and exploring the themes the story is trying to share?

There’s nothing wrong with being really into movies and the process of making them and enjoying the finer details of cinema. That’s all cool. But when people use that word to describe themselves it’s just super cringy imo. ... Exactly. There's a podcast called Cinephiles or something like that, and they analyze a movie for a straight hour and a half.