The Cinema
- Submitted by: jakkson
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- Category: Arts
- Date Submitted: 11/22/2010 11:32 AM
- Pages: 5
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T H E C I N E M A
Anyone can acknowledge that as technology advances, so does our culture. The traditional movie-going experience (paying to go sit in a theater) is slowly dwindling in the fight against the digital accessibility anyone with internet access has to nearly any feature film they can possibly think of. The coupling of this with an ongoing plethora of virtual piracy has drastically dropped the urgency in waiting to see a movie until it officially premieres in theaters. Many people will watch a preview or a trailer on television, and rather than choosing between “see it” and “don’t see it,” they’re now choosing between a much more advanced set of options. Is it worth seeing in theaters? Isn’t it easier to just look it up online and not have to pay for the ticket? Perhaps one can wait for it to come out on DVD and then just ‘Netflix’ it. What a lot of people can’t seem to understand is that sitting down and watching a good film in a real theater, on a 35mm projector, with the sound pooling around the viewers’ ears, and with every inch of the actors’ expressions maximized on screen, is an experience worth paying for.
When referring to box office records of the past 30 years (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly) one can argue that in 2009, there was a remarkable increase of 10% in film grossing, the largest increase since 1989. The year 2009 made more money in the film industry than any other year. At a glance, this can be seen as good news for filmmakers, because it means more people went to see movies in the year 2009 than any other year. Audiences are flocking to the theaters again. The American people are in love with cinema again, and they clearly cannot get enough, spending their hard-earned money to be entertained by hard-working directors, screenwriters, producers and actors. With a closer look, however, it becomes evident that the numbers are merely a result of the industry effectively trying to stay afloat.
Ticket prices have risen...
Anyone can acknowledge that as technology advances, so does our culture. The traditional movie-going experience (paying to go sit in a theater) is slowly dwindling in the fight against the digital accessibility anyone with internet access has to nearly any feature film they can possibly think of. The coupling of this with an ongoing plethora of virtual piracy has drastically dropped the urgency in waiting to see a movie until it officially premieres in theaters. Many people will watch a preview or a trailer on television, and rather than choosing between “see it” and “don’t see it,” they’re now choosing between a much more advanced set of options. Is it worth seeing in theaters? Isn’t it easier to just look it up online and not have to pay for the ticket? Perhaps one can wait for it to come out on DVD and then just ‘Netflix’ it. What a lot of people can’t seem to understand is that sitting down and watching a good film in a real theater, on a 35mm projector, with the sound pooling around the viewers’ ears, and with every inch of the actors’ expressions maximized on screen, is an experience worth paying for.
When referring to box office records of the past 30 years (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly) one can argue that in 2009, there was a remarkable increase of 10% in film grossing, the largest increase since 1989. The year 2009 made more money in the film industry than any other year. At a glance, this can be seen as good news for filmmakers, because it means more people went to see movies in the year 2009 than any other year. Audiences are flocking to the theaters again. The American people are in love with cinema again, and they clearly cannot get enough, spending their hard-earned money to be entertained by hard-working directors, screenwriters, producers and actors. With a closer look, however, it becomes evident that the numbers are merely a result of the industry effectively trying to stay afloat.
Ticket prices have risen...