Talk:Cult figure

Hi there, i removed [Plank], since it leads to a disambiguation page, that contains no topic on a cult figure known as "Plank". If you wrote in "Plank", provide a link to an article, either here or on the disambiguation page.

The names on this page should be alphabatized.


 * It looks like the number of names on this page has more than doubled recently. Whether someone qualifies as a cult figure is a matter of opinion to some extent, but perhaps there should be a policy that each person who gets listed should have a sentence or so on the main page explaining what makes that person a cult figure.  Something like:
 * "Norman Wisdom -- British actor who became a superstar in Albania because his films were the only films from Western countries shown there in the Communist era." --Metropolitan90 03:17, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)


 * I have alphabetized and removed a bunch of entries. If someone clearly had a cult following (ie I knew them and considered they probably had that) or they actually reasonably asserted it in the description, they were kept.  This undoubtably yields an American bias which should be corrected, but I can't do it.  I think to be included here, the article for the person should indicate their cult status.  If it's not notable enough for the article, it shouldn't be here.  (Oh, and I suspect Grateful Dead and Phish should probably be added  :) Wikibofh 14:43, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Requirements for inclusion...
I'd like to prospose the following as a requirement for inclusion on this list:


 * The linked article asserts cult status.

Comments? Wikibofh 30 June 2005 21:38 (UTC)


 * Furthermore, the inclusion must be in alphabetic order and not redlinked. Wikibofh 03:50, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

Possible Inclusion
Um... I strongly believe that Davey Havok of AFI and Ville Valo of HIM(or maybe the bands themselves) should be added into the Singers and Songwriters section of the article. I didn't add them though, since it seemed like a good idea to check with others before. Any thoughts? Floramage! 16:37, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about those people, but I think KISS and The Shaggs should be added to the Singers and Songwriters section.

I was researching the expression cult figure or cult hero for an academic paper on Bob Dylan last year and found Wikipedia the only source of info for this that did not focus on classical Greek definitions. The listing has been greatly enhanced, glad to see it does not relate to football specifically any more, however a number of salient points.

1. It is ironically entirely possible in my point of view to be both a populist hero and cult hero or figure. This is because of the attributes of the expression cult; its religious overtones mean that it is possible to have cult status, i.e. appeal obsessively to a core group while having wide appeal. I would argue for example in the 1960's Bob Dylan was both a populist figure and a cult one. This is based on the fact he had quasi-religious messianic overtones for a group of devoted fans and yet achieved broad commercial success. I would argue that cult status figures are defined by how much significance they have for their followers. They are perceived to be mythic in some way and are perceived to be exemplars. Hence, they play a bigger part in formulating a perceived group identity.

2.The cult figure has strong links with the underdog antihero, rebel and misfit, yet Again ironically, Cult figures appeal relates to our collective senses of being outsiders or components of subcultures, this is a often a 'mythic perception’, in really such a definition is subjective and often defies quantitative analysis. For example Bob Dylan was felt by numerous different subcultures in the 1960's to have 'special' relevance to them, i.e. drug subcultures felt he was emblematic, activists felt he was a vanguard etc, that these added up to a collective popularity does not diminish his status as a cult figure. Another related topic is when does a subculture become a counterculture become mainstream culture?

Ergo the cult figure is one who has cult status, often a cult hero who may or may not have qualities of the cultural outsider, antihero. Qualitative rather than quantitative assessment is probably more relevant and certain mythic collective attributes define them.Celfit 08:56, 22 April 2007 (UTC)