HUM-3321 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Celluloid, Kinetoscope, Star System
Document Summary
To identify the four aspects of cinema as an institution. To become familiar with the brief history of the cinema through the kinetoscope, mass. Designed to make money, so has established itself as an industry- an institution that produces a particular, though intangible, product. Uses the star system and genre systems to ensure minimum returns. Audiences will show up to films with famous actors. Provides an appropriate form of social contact, way to spend leisure time. It became the modern communal activty and largely replacces pre-industrial social institutions. Reflects involvement in other institutions such as work, school, church. Success depended on industrial revolution era inventions. Continues to change with technological advances, and it drives those advances. Encourage the movie-going habit by providing what americans want to see. Narratives often encourage utopic feelings or allow for cathartic releases. Motion pictures become the ultimate form of mass consumption.
