essay.

Jordan Jones

Contextual and theoretical studies essay.

An investigation into the decline of Modern Cinema.

In our current era, cinema and television is a cultural hub, providing entertainment to the modern day person, we are faced with some kind of visual interaction almost everyday, thus meaning cinema is a high impact on our lives, but some films blow us away and some films drift from our minds almost instantly, I blame this on the modern standardisation of the film industry, as with Adorno's text on the stadarisation of modern music, cinema is beginning to sink into the same decline, as I dont agree with some of Adorno's texts, I feel cinema has lost much of the sustinance it once used to provide and has become a modern day outing for the sterotypical western family, with huge cinema complexes only really showing the next star studded, Box office smash.

What has happened to cinema?, where did all the heart and soul and body of the film industry go?, once again in the modernist world, the cinema industry has become a huge money-making machine, in Leo Charney's text “ cinema and the invention of modern life” he quotes that “cinema formed a crucible for ideas,techniques and representation strategies” and it was, Cinema was once a hub of activty with established directors using a camera to create pieces of work that didnt need to be crowded with special effects to make the audience happy.

Modernisation is a strong factor, with popular culture defining the way Cinema has progressed and declined, with clear signs of postmodernism emphesising style and special effects. This moves me on to popular culture, what does the modern day society request from the cinema industry? Has it been “dumbed down” for the masses?. The answer is yes, modern cinema has taken a less intelligent approach using visuals over content, a prime example is James Cameron's Avatar, voted on of the best films of all time, is primaraily just a basic love story masked by a cocophony of outstanding special effects which clouds the veiwers acknowledgment to the potentially weak storyline, but Avatar has a strong point, it is not a re-make or adaptation of another franchise, a outcome of popular culture is that filmakers are no longer inclined to create original compelling storylines when there are potenitionally thousands of scripts just waiting to be written using other peoples ideas.

Comic book adaptations are a outstanding example of a box office hit in modern sociecty, using social escapsim to attract the veiwer to a fictional enviroment where the characters are already well established and relateable, however this in no way targeting the writers of the comics, just targeting the directors challenged with the task of remaking well known ideals and turning them into modern icons.

Mass culture wants to believe that the cinema it is being fed by the money making industires is good, We are set up to beileve that what we are being shown is outstanding cinema, with prestigous award ceromonies such as the Oscar's and the Bafta's, where cultural icons parade down red carpets in order to receive awards for films that barely scratch the surface of intellect, but modernism wants us to accept this, accept that a film is good because it has an actor or actress that we can aspire to.

However it is not all bad news, stalwarts of the film industries still attempt to break the boundaries and push on and create good cinema, Britain is still a stalwart for defining motion picture and with directors like Shane Meadow's and Guy Ritchie gaining the masses attention a little light of hoep still shines for cinema, unfortuneatly during the current reccessions British cinema has faced a lot of cuts,primarily due the fact, it is as not as well established as the American Giant across the atlantic.
European cinema also still holds it's head high as not being a victim to the cultural trend of turning every film in to a special effects phonemenon, but these films will get no recognition overseas because of mass standardisation in the American film industry.

Although, a good example of a film which is culturally sound is Disney/Pixars “up”, arguabally one of the best films designed for the masses in the last 10 years, It took children's cinema to new heights, with a surreal yet believable storyline balancing childish humour with more developed cultural drama, it is a carbon copy of today's mass culture, almost in the context that all our problems can be “wished” away. This is culturaly relevent in modern western society, we are faced with problems which we can hide through visual escapism, 120 minutes of uplifting cinema can soon wash our minds of what problems we actually face.

In due respect, cinema might be able to save itself if people stand up to the masses and develp their own film, a highlight to technological advances is the explosion in the home video generation, with advancement in home film making technology, creatives are beginning to harness the power they possess and can make their work open available through the internet, this is promising for the more adventeorus veiwer who maybe wants to steer clear from the box office, and indulge in some more cognitive cinema from the comfort of his own home, in that case we are blessed that amateur film is becoming a growing force in cinema and is a discipline I can see flourishing in future.



The argument raised in this essay, is that we cannot stop the rampage of post modernism, it will only take us further down the path of the money making “fat cat,” and unfortunately in a world dominated by aspirations and role models, cinema will continue to get worse, we live in a cultural soceity safegaurded by the masses, the world of cinema will respond to what the people want, and people who used to enjoy the highlights of intellectually engrossing cinema will begin to suffer, and will have to dig deep to find their own form of escapism, however with the prodominant rise of independent film making, the world of cinema could be entering a battle with intent to bring Film back to, it's once cultural greatness.


Bibliography:

(Charney Leo, 1996. Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life. Edition. University of California)

(D. Strinati, 1995. Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. 1 Edition. Routledge.)

(John Storey, 2000. Cultural Theory, Popular Culture: An Introduction. 3rd Edition. Prentice Hall.)