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Is Cinema Dying?

Updated: Mar 15, 2023


A lot of people believe that cinema as an artform, might be dying out. It's not like we're getting lesser movies or content or anything, quite the opposite. But first, by cinema, I don't mean all moving pictures because in this day and age there are so many different forms of entertainment out there, and cinema is just one of them. I mean the artform that is cinema, the type of films created with passion for the process and storytelling. The type of films someone like Martin Scorsese would call cinema. Films were made not just to entertain but in Martin Scorsese's own words, "Movies touch our hearts and awaken our vision, and change the way we see things". Pure cinema should be an expressive work of the director and be a unique vision. Films are important as they introduce us to new places, cultures, ideas and important aspects of life. Older films that have had a huge impact on today's filmmakers, such as Gone With the Wind, Mirror, Casablanca, The Good, the bad and the Ugly, M, The Apu trilogy, The Seventh Seal, Apocalypse Now and even by extension films like Close-Up, Silence of the Lambs and Pulp Fiction are all classics that embody everything that cinema stood for.


Now, it's an undeniable fact that things are changing. It's obviously not as simple as today's movies suck and older movies were better, in fact that's blatantly incorrect. But there is something off nowadays, big studios are investing more and more money into franchises, reboots, remakes, sequels and more "content" that was very accurately described by Martin Scorsese as "Theme Park rides." This influx of "theme park movies" weren't a big problem but now I feel like it could be


And of course like, all of this sounds pretentious but there's nothing wrong with these types of films at all, in fact I enjoy a good blockbuster now and then. It's kind of depressing though that since there's so much money involved in movies, there's a lot of financial problems studios need to deal with, they can't always make experimental films, cause there would just be a niche audience watching them. Studios have realized that franchise blockbusters are where the money's at and who doesn't want money? But that has led to the film industry playing it too safe and only working for commercial gain. That's why most of the films coming out nowadays feel derivative, cheap and oversaturated. The problem isn't that the general audience is eating this stuff up, because of course they are, that's the way it's always been. From even the 70s.


The concern people have is that there may not be room for films that similar to what Andrei Tarkovsky or Ingmar Bergman created during their days. Marvel studios release 3 or more movies a year and films like that are crowding theaters and it's even harder for filmmakers to release or find markets for their films. A film like Blade Runner 2049 flops hard while a movie like the remake of Beauty and the Beast makes a billion dollars. It's a bit frustrating. The box office dictates the life of a film and now, it feels like original cinema might be on the losing side.


And now at its lowest point... The pandemic hit. Theaters shut down. Movies weren't big made on the same scale as they were before, and worse we don't know if theaters could recover. Streaming services have gained even more viewers, and could topple theaters in terms of viewership. The future of cinema is unstable but I still think, cinema isn't dying. Sure, the majority of films made nowadays aren't made for the sake of art but with the advent of streaming I think we're entering a new era. It's not as hard as it used to be to distribute and make indie films, and with services like Netflix endorsing films such as Cold War or The Irishman, we may be getting a lot of great films in the future. Streaming services may challenge theaters but they're a great and easy way to watch films and to get a mass audience for great films. Foreign cinema and obscure cinema is now much more accessible due to the internet, and if you love movies, there isn't a better time to be alive. Indie films still exist, and if you know where to look for them, you don't have to worry too much for the future of cinema. The criterion collection has never been more popular and services like Mubi too are interested in curating pure cinema. Cinema is being kept alive by people passionate about it and no number of remakes, reboots or sequels could stop them.


In the midst of all this, one studio that has gotten a lot of deserved attention is A24, A production and distribution company committed to the art and to a filmmaker's true vision. They've made a lot of great films, a few not so great ones but overall I love their stuff. My favourite A24 films are Moonlight, Lady Bird, The Florida Project, Hereditary, Climax, Ex Machina, Room, Midsommar, Good Time and The VVitch. Also, like I said, great cinema is still being made if you know what to look for. Here are some of my favourite recent films excluding A24 films - An Elephant Sitting Still, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Ida, Frances Ha, Birdman, Sound of Metal, Burning, Her, Capernaum, Parasite, Raw and Loving Vincent. In conclusion I don't think cinema will ever truly die. It will just.. evolve.


By @starwards1


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