So I just saw you talking abt teaching intro to cinema and discussing with your students whether marvel was cinema and I am so intrigued!!!! I don’t know much abt film beyond Moving Pictures Pretty but I’m fascinated by subjective discussions about what does or doesn’t qualify as a certain kind of art
I imagine you have some kind of general academic definition, but apart from that, what is cinema to you?
ahh what a great and difficult question, thank you! i think the clearest way i can describe it is that cinema uses the medium of film to say something about the world and prove that thesis, and/or to show audiences a different perspective on life - how the world could be if we were someone/something else or made different choices. i think if when you ask people what a movie is about, all they can give you is a synopsis of the plot, that movie isn't cinema because it isn't trying to demonstrate any meaning, reveal any truth, change our minds or open our eyes.
film is a really special medium because it's so very close to how (seeing and hearing) people experience the world - moving pictures and sounds in tandem - but also can be so much more beyond that. it can show us both what *is* and also what *could be*. so if you just use that nearly-endless possibility space to make some cookie-cutter big-budget movie designed to get as many people in the theater as possible in order to maximize profits... in my opinion that's not cinema. a movie has to be doing something more than providing 2 hours of entertainment and stuffing execs' pockets to be cinema.
