This book probes the production history, initial reception, aesthetics, and legacy of Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise in order to understand its place in the cult film canon. It explores early-1980s New York downtown culture and Jarmusch's involvement in music, as well as reflecting on the film's status alongside Jarmusch's subsequent output. This volume [is] the first book length study of an important and frequently taught art-cult movie. Arguing that Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise didn't come to cult status in the usual way, the volume makes an important intervention in the way we define cult movies and assign cult status, and an intervention in the way we frame the entire "cult" discussion.