Studying Film: Culture, Practice, Experience

The experience of watching movies has continued to change and diversify in the twenty-first century with new movie types, new viewing devices (such as the iPad), and new venues for watching movies (such as IMAX theaters). Film culture encompasses the socially and historically determined ideas, values, and expectations of the movies. A wide variety of film tastes, viewing environments, and activities that are associated with movies – advertising campaigns, online film trailers, movie reviews, and celebrity gossip – inform our film culture. Film culture, in turn, transforms our experience of a movie – that is, why, where, and when we see a movie can shape our responses, enjoyment, and understanding of it. For instance, our movie-viewing experience will vary greatly if we opt to forego a group outing to the multiplex and instead watch the latest Adam Sandler comedy at home on an iPad while wearing headphones.