Cinema already died

There’s been a lot of Discourse lately about the impending death of theaters. HBO Max, it is argued, will strike the final blow to the fragile ecosystem of cinema chains. But how could a streaming service releasing a year’s slate of movies kill an entire industry? Keep in mind, only one of these films (Wonder Woman 84) had even an even chance at success, the rest being risks to some degree (just because Dune has the white boy of the week doesn’t mean people were going to pay to watch a dense sci-fi epic based on a book even most dweebs won’t read).

The answer is given by the anxious filmmakers who fear for their medium. They tell us that once the audience comes to expect new films in the comfort of their own homes, perhaps for a lower cost than a group of people buying tickets, they will never go back to the old ways.

Which of course leads to another question — why?

Well, there are two possible answers. One is that the cinema experience is inferior to a decent home setup. You can buy a cheap projector and a decent sound system and replicate the look and sound of a cinema. You can make popcorn for about half a cent , you can pause it to go to the bathroom, you can shout and holler and all those good things that the cinema discourages. The worry, though, is that this will come at a cost.

As Dennis Villeneuve says, we need communal experiences. Humanity is wired for togetherness, and to tell stories and hear stories together. If cinemas die, we won’t have much left that we actually do together.

But here’s the thing: we haven’t done that in a long time.

We sit in a dark room. We watch images that VFX artists labored over for literal days per frame for minimum wage. We go home.

We forget.

The cinema is not a meaningful communal experience. We don’t trade ideas or interpretations with one another during or after the movie. We don’t discuss how they made us feel - what they revealed to us, or about us.

Sure, we talk about movies all the time. But not as art. We talk about movies on social media as reflections of what we already believe, to reinforce our literal ideas. We discuss the politics of the filmmakers, who the characters represent in the real world, the implications for future films in the franchise.

And we don’t do it at the theater. We do it afterward, on social media or in blogs or maybe even in person. Having seen the film in the theater did not make the experience any more communal. We’ve created our communities based on interests, not proximity thanks to the internet.

Was Dune going to be the film that made everyone think? Would it have held up a mirror to our culture and made us realize what is wrong? I doubt it. More likely, we would have debated it, and none would have their minds changed. Most would miss the message of the original book, to beware of charismatic leaders with seemingly noble causes. Even those who understood it would have only used it as a clumsy metaphor for the people they don’t like while missing any possible criticism of the people they do.

Another fear I have come across among the cinema mourners is the commodification of art. Because going to the cinema requires some work, and general etiquette requires some attention, the removal of it will spell the end of cinema as an art form. To that I say -

Too late

Cinema has been steadily purging all artistic intent for decades. Some movies mean things to people, yes. But in the studio system, they can only be certain things. Comforting, inspiring, scary, those are allowed and encouraged. You can make all the Speilberg and Ron Howard movies you want. But nothing is allowed to penetrate much deeper.

And maybe it shouldn’t. Once you start working with millions of dollars, you have to make millions of dollars. Art that expresses a deep idea, that conveys a truth as the filmmaker sees it, will only resonate with a few. They can only hint at deeper concepts, in ways that don’t offend those who don’t agree with those ideas.

So if everything goes to streaming, the films will be commercialized, lowest-common-denominator schlock with more budget than heart. Film will have a massive barrier to entry, excluding voices who cannot bury their controversial passions underneath a veil of corporate nonsense. It will be ruled by a few select companies who will do anything to protect their brand.

Just like it is. Right now.