Motion Pictures

Abstract

This paper outlines the development of motion pictures from a cultural perspective that includes some technical detail and thoughts on the future of motion pictures. In just over one century, motion pictures have changed the way humans live. At this moment, millions of people are watching movies in practically every corner of the world. Motion pictures join the personal, artistic, political, and cultural in unique ways that have made them both pervasive and influential. Throughout the twentieth century, motion pictures proved invaluable to humans on the level of the individual and in social, cultural, and political realms. There is no doubt that their significance will continue. It is commonplace for individuals to describe films that entertain them, or touch them personally, and that change their lives. Likewise, countries, cultures, societies, nations, and ethnic groups have long affirmed the importance of motion pictures to their group identities and social movements (see Identity Formation and Difference). Regardless of these problems, the future of motion pictures seems vibrant and hopeful. New Internet-based technologies suggest that, if important issues such as the international digital divide can be successfully resolved, the production, distribution, and exhibition of motion pictures may be decentralized and democratized (see chapter Internet Access, Cost and the Information Gap).