Dolores Tierney argues that “The cult qualities that are celebrated and admired in El

Topo (and other ‘world cinema’ films labeled ‘cult’) are those qualities that make them
inaccessible or difficult to consume or understand, or, alternatively, those that fit in
with preconceived notions of the ‘other.’’

To what extent is the cult status of El Topo based on its perceived ‘inaccessibility’ and
exotic ‘otherness’?

Alejandro Jodorowky’s El Topo solidified its cult status and reputation as arguably the first midnight
movie since it’s initial screening at the Elgin theater in New York in 1970. The film follows a mystical
voyage through the sublime landscapes, set against the archetypal Western Desert, Jodorwsky’s
surrealist cinematography morphs the dreamlike expedition into a nightmarish sojourn. Spirituality
and religion play a crucial role in not only aesthetic, but narrative and meaning. Though it presents a
journey, it is not so much about travelling to a specific destination, but finding oneself on a quest for
enlightenment and redemption.

Critics Dolores Tierney and Jamie Sexton denote the colonialist assertions of criticism on
Lastsploitation films. A core idea articulating Latspolitation films to be low quality, reflected by
smaller budgets, rather than transgressive and shocking themes in correspondence with US
exploitation films. This term as an indicator positions all films outside of the dominant Hollywood
production as an ‘other’ regardless of its content. As such, scholarship on the topic reveals a prevalent
hierarchy of filmmaking in which Hollywood resides at the top, subjecting films from third-world
countries as subordinate in comparison. Tierney argues that transnational reception of such Cult films
as El Topo are praised on the basis of exotic ‘otherness’.
However, Sexton posits that this pleasure is based in it’s conformity to Cult genre akin to the
US, as such, pleasure derived from supposed ‘otherness’ and ‘inaccesibility’ is likely unconscious.
Furthermore, Tierney’s argument reinstates it’s own imperialist view. As a result, she subjugates
Jodorowsky’s auteurism which compounds both Exploitation and Art Cinema which had garnered
admiration from both Cult audiences and bourgeoise cinephiles.

Iain Hunter States primarily states “a cult film is a film with a devoted following or subcultural
community of admirers.”1 However, he goes further to redefine cult as “a film without broad audience
appeal, such as a rediscovered classic; a ‘midnight movie’; or a marginal, trashy, bad or exploitation
film”2 with this he cites the word ‘transgressive’ which he states in regard to a film’s representation
and taste. El Topo was advertised as being screening at midnight as the film was "too heavy to be
shown any other way." Despite it’s initial resistance in it’s exhibition, the film garnered great success,
as metropolitan audiences sought to view the bizarre, transgressive and unconventional which the film
provided. Thus, is evident that El Topo retains core tenets of Cult cinema as praise from such
audience regardless of inaccessibility and exoticism.

1
Iain hunter - “receptiveness to camp, badness, transgression, certain kinds of difficulty.” - Hunter,
I.Q, “For Virgins Only: A Brief Introduction to Cult Film.” In Cult Film as a Guide to Life: Fandom,
Adaptation and Identity, London: Bloomsbury, 2016. P.5
2
Iain hunter - “receptiveness to camp, badness, transgression, certain kinds of difficulty.” - Hunter,
I.Q, “For Virgins Only: A Brief Introduction to Cult Film.” In Cult Film as a Guide to Life: Fandom,
Adaptation and Identity, London: Bloomsbury, 2016. P.5
Tierney posits the film’s subcultural value relies on an exotic ‘otherness’ within the western
mainstream. To some extent this is validated due to the films’s lean towards exorcism based on it’s
Mexican aesthetic and theology. The aestheticism of El Topo clearly exploits the religion of Santería
and festival Día de Muertos ( Mexican day of the dead). Filmed in Mexico, it stands as a background
of a religious and spiritual frontier. Death and violence are rampant throughout the film in tandem
with its religious aspect. Religous imagery of burial grounds and sacrificed goats hung, emanating
Jesus on the cross, set against beige landscapes, this imagery is dramatatized by vibrant blood shed.
Further to this foreign spectacle, the film heightens beautiful imagery of the deserts and
pueblos of Mexico whilst subverting them to an apocalyptic wasteland of extinction. Extreme shots of
the desert dunes, vast mountains and blue oasis’ in this barren landscap and contrasted with scenes of
ravaged, blood stained pueblos.
Josetxo Cerdán and Miguel Fernández Labayenin their work on Latsploitation state
“Jodorowsky exploits ‘Mexicanness’ to pursue a fantastic vision of redemption”3 .This is evident in
the characters themselves with bandits dressed as Charros and the Colonel wearing a
nineteenth-century Mexican army uniform4, a clear image of mexican influence and stereotype.
Exploitation is further propagated in the stereotype of delinquency and drunkenness. The Mexican
gunslingers, led by the Colonel, lurch at the first woman they see, then are made to act as dogs at the
helm of the Colonel, thus confounding the ideas of stupidity and unlawfulness as a Mexican
stereotype.

Conversely, whilst Tierney argues El Topo is admired on it’s ‘otherness’ and ‘inaccessibility’, in many
forms it in fact subscribes to certain Hollywood practices, being modelled off the Spaghetti Western
genre. A clear parallel to this Hollywood genre as evident as El Topo battles three bandits, evoking
the three-way stand off of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Jodorowsky similarly uses
extreme close-ups of the bandits to build tension, a clear narrative tool of westerns. However, he
subverts the classic western to the absurd, by using a deflating balloon to countdown the quickdraw.
Jodorowsky adheres to classic western tropes of the lone wolf protagonist, bandits and lawlessness,
but the journey is presented in the aesthetic of a hallucinogenic trip based in spectacle over narrative .
Thus, Jodorwsky does not simply pander to a presentation of Latin American stereotype, but also
provides familiar narrative and genre akin to Hollywood production, therefore in many regards the
film is not simply inaccessible nor present exotic otherness.
Sexton rejects the idea that western audiences derive pleasure from these tenets, but states that
even alternative cinema has become codified and repeated. As such she relays “Western cult fans may
be drawn to familiar aspects and features of transnational films in addition to the appeals of
difference”5 as opposed to Tierney’s argument of the appeal of inaccessibility and exoticism.

Jodorowsky alternatively redefines Mexican culture, with the film linking both the North and the
South. It can be argued this panders to the appeal of a North American audience rather than a faithful
depiction of Mexico. El Topo offers an image of Mexico in opposition, that balances between

3
Cerdán, Josetxo, and Miguel Fernández Labayen, “Art Exploitation, Cool Cult, and the Cinema of
Alejandro Jodorowsky”, in Latsploitation, Exploitation Cinemas and Latin America: edited by Victoria
Ruétalo and Dolores Tierney, 102–114, London: Taylor & Francis Group. 2009. p.108
4
Cerdán, Josetxo, and Miguel Fernández Labayen, “Art Exploitation, Cool Cult, and the Cinema of
Alejandro Jodorowsky”, in Latsploitation, Exploitation Cinemas and Latin America: edited by Victoria
Ruétalo and Dolores Tierney, 102–114, London: Taylor & Francis Group. 2009. p.107
5
Sexton, Jamie “The allure of otherness: transnational cult film fandom and the exoticist assumption”
in Transnational Cinemas,Taylor & Francis, 2017. P.7
spirituality and violence. Within the film his journey’s mission is to duel with the four masters of the
desert. On a quest of enlightenment, each nemesis he encounters concedes to give him philosophical
teachings.
El topo’s second encounter is with a blind master who states “I don’t fear killing you as there
is no death”. Eliciting Buddhism and the New Age spirituality of reincarnation, as well as evoking the
post-60s counter-cultural ideology. His next match is with the son of a tarot card reading gypsy. She
states “This is what the cards foretell. You are falling, you keep falling, the deeper you fall the higher
you get.” She seems to foretell his story as his pursuit is all in vain, utilising New Age spirituality in
mysticism and tarot cards that infer the idea of fate to which El Topo has no control over, yet he
continually fights against this. As his story progresses he hears a semblance of spiritual truth from
these masters but does not listen to their warnings as he is overrun by his ego. It is only when he is
betrayed and shot by the women, being dragged away by disfigured people he states “Make thy paths
know from me oh lord teach me thy ways. Lead me in thy truth and teach me. Thought art god my
saviour..”
Evidently, Jodorowsky manifests an amalgamation of eastern and western spirituality
ironically tied within the excessive violence, against the backdrop of the Mexican desert. The film’s
symbolism and religion links both Catholicism and Buddhism, which in turn reinscribes it’s own
spiritual ideas, thus cannot be linked to a singular culture.
Consequently, the supposed ‘otherness’ and ‘inaccessibility’ is not an inherent depiction of
racial stereotypes nor colonialist depictions. Jodorowsky has created his own cultural landscape and
ideology. Therefore, it cannot be subjugated due to exoticism, being a conglomeration of both
cultures.

Iain Hunter posits that “cult was and is not only a kind of movie but a taste for, and way of
looking at, all sorts of bizarre, disregarded and unrespectable alternatives to ‘the mainstream’.” it is an
evident desire within the fandom to seek out and find unique pleasure in these “unrespectable
alternatives” that creates a clear separation from the mainstream, though Tierney posits her argument
solely in relation to foreign cult films, however, Hunter does not marginalise these films by origin,
just this sole basis of being subcultural. He demonstrates “The cult of paracinema assumes
receptiveness to camp, badness, transgression, certain kinds of difficulty.” within this he indicates to
the attraction of cult fans is transgression and the difficult to consume, however, this can relate to all
cult films regardless of geographical origin.
With this he not only confirms the idea that a cult film retains a devote following, but the context
itself features shocking or excessive contect that is regarded and low taste and subcultural.
In relation to El Topo that are clear notions of sex, violence and gore. In regards to sexuality,
it is ingrained, whilst also being trangressive for the contextual history. The film subverts ideas of
sexuality, displaying inherent homosexuality, fluctuating from the sensual to the grotesque. One
feature of the film displays monks tied up by the western bandits, they draw their guns, leading the
audience to believe they are to be mudered, instead Jodorowsky completely disarms the viewer as the
monks are released and begin slowing dancing with the bandits, leading the couples to start embracing
and passionately kissing. Further to this, the scene cut to the bandits riding the monks naked whilst
flagilating them, in an ironic fashion as it is a religious discipline of erotic gratification. This being an
evident display or show and sexual exploitation, manifesting his sardonic and sadistic portrayal of
religion.
Homosexuality recurs within the lesbian gunslingers who betray El Topo, subsequently
murdering him and ride off into the sunset. Their homosexual display is further heightened by the use
of fruit being sugestively licked and touched whilst being ate as an obvious yonic image.
 The most debated and controversial scene of El topo is in which El Topo rapes his female
companion, ripping her clothes and assaulting her. The controversy stem from Jodorwsky’s 1972 book
“El Topo: A Book of the Film” in which he states “I really raped her. And she screamed.” in that the
scene was unpremeditated or decided. He conceded “I do not condone the act of rape, but exploited
the shock value of the statement at the time, following years in the Panic Movement and other
iterations of harnessing shock to motivate energetic release.” This evidently, reaffirms his desire to
present exploitation and shock within the film on the basis of his previous work within the panic
movement. He since, has claimed within these statements that it was shock itself and untrue regarding
the consent or lack there of. Regardless the scene itself it shocking notwithstanding the context of
filming the scene.

Post-colonial critique of Latsploitation makes the assumption that a director’s product is

representative of its national culture6, however this is not inherently the case for El Topo. Whilst El
Topo was reduced partly by Latin American culture, it is an amalgamation of various influences, thus
by degrading the cult status of the film to inaccessibility and otherness, overlooks the multitude of
exalted qualities attributed. Jodorowsky’s films are celebrated due to his Auteurism, influenced from
his transnational identity and theatrical practices.
Cerdán and Labayen’s chapter on Lastploitation auteurs note their “inventive play with
generic conventions, taboo-breaking themes, unconventional approach to style, and vexed relationship
to standard notions of authorship”7 challenging the elitist, cultural standards implicit in the idea of
Auteurism. Further positing Jodorowsky’s capacity to straddle between exploitation cinema and
avant-garde auteur cinema, delineating his ability to mix blend ‘low’ and ‘high-end’ cinema.
Jodorowsky’s work is regarded as both Exploitation and Art cinema as he aesthetically fuses
surrealist inspired cinematography with grotesque savage action,which compounds his art as both in
‘Bad taste’ with cultural distinction. Critic Joan Hawkins notes “Jodorowsky uses the simultaneously
avant-garde and exploitative strategies of excess and shock as a means of questioning the norms of
bourgeois cinephilia and “good taste” and blurring the boundaries between avant-garde and trash
cinema”.
These exploitative strategies manifest in feature of paraplegics, explicit violence and sexual
performance by characters with disability. From the film’s first display, the audience is confronted
with spectacle of a bloodbath of a ravaged town, strewn with imbrued bodies and hanging corpses.
Throughout the film, El Topo journeys through the desert leaving behind a trail of violence. Though
the film is seemingly a tale of redemption and enlightenment, this is not ultimate consequence. El
Topo finds himself seemingly reborn into a cave, he seeks to help the inhabitants with incest-induced
abnormalities that have been cast out of the town, as he adorns monk robes and finds a newfound
enlightenment. In this scene, reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead, the paraplegics hobble and drag
themselves to the village by which they are brutally gundowned in a sanguine massacre.
Consequently, he commits suicide due to the shame of his actions. Sitting crossed legged and setting
himself alight, the image parallels the Vietnamese monk who set himself alight in Saigon as
self-protest to the Vietnam war. The film goes beyond gore to depict the excesses of every possible

6
Sexton, Jamie “The allure of otherness: transnational cult film fandom and the exoticist assumption”
in Transnational Cinemas,Taylor & Francis, 2017. P.1
7
Cerdán, Josetxo, and Miguel Fernández Labayen, “Art Exploitation, Cool Cult, and the Cinema of
Alejandro Jodorowsky”, in Latsploitation, Exploitation Cinemas and Latin America: edited by Victoria
Ruétalo and Dolores Tierney, 102–114, London: Taylor & Francis Group. 2009. p.108
method of human slaughter and murder, whilst reinfering eastern spirituality. It is this combination of
exploitation imagery and spectacle in conjunction with deep philosophical connotations that mark the
auteurism of Jodorowsky which combines Exploitation and Avant-garde cinema.
Ultimately, solidying it’s presentation of ‘Bad taste’ and Exploitation, Jodorwksy’s is
self-referential within his formation of the Panic Movement. The groups moto ideals “humour, horror
and simultaneity” with this evident in El Topo’s surrealism, shock and abhorrent violence,
characteristic of the Cult Film genre.
Despite the perverse display of human deformity and explicit violence as Hawkins
exemplifies “strategies of shock, excess, and the spectacle of deformity, Jodorowsky’s films are
simultaneously welcomed by bourgeois intellectuals and subcultural audiences.”8 As such he subverts
the bounds of bad taste and bourgeoise cinephilia. The film is praised on the basis of Jodorowsky’s
auteurism in blending surrealism and artistic cinematography, as evident in art cinema, with sexually
explicit and violent action, evident in exploitation cinema. As such he garners recognition and praise
from both cult fandom and intellectual prestigious.

Dolores Tierney subjugates El Topo’s transnational reception by western audiences as being praised
based on its tendency to find pleasure in the exotic ‘otherness’ and inaccessibility. Tierney’s work on
Latsploitation criticism argues against the post-colonial readings of Latin American cinema, stating
they compare such films in relation to Hollywood hegemony, thus asserting an imperialist position.
However, her argument parallels this imperialist conception, thus she adheres to the same position she
denigrates. Jodorowsky’s auteurism and Art Cinema background, as well as transnational identity, has
meant he has formed his own conglomeration of western and eastern spirituality within his cinematic
style. As a result of his auteurship compounding exploitation and art-cinema, it not only garners
admiration in cult fandom but piques interest of bourgeoise cinephilia, thus solidifies El Topo’s cult
status regardless of colonialist assumptions of exoticism and inaccesibility.

Bibliography

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FILMOGRAPHY

El Topo (1970) Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (1968) Dir. Sergio Leone

The Night of the Living Dead (1968) Dir. George A. Romero