Watching films in the cinema brings the audience into a “hypnotic” environment that creates an immersive experience. The darkness of the cinema serves to accentuate the film which is the only light in the cinema. As the audience constitutes the most essential part of the show, their reactions, emotions, and imagination are triggered and led by the atmosphere. The contrast of darkness and the light, therefore, makes people able to immerse themselves into the scene, witnessing, speculating, and following the development of plots. While the use of supplementary instruments of representation as described as “Lure”, ranging from the fascinating sound

Continue readingReading Response: Roland Barthes

Barthes shares his experience of the cinema as a journey. A journey which he is “lured” into and has to “take off” from. The darkness of the hall, the path that leads the audience to their comfortable seats, the bright beam of the screen that captures one fully… It is as if the act of going to the cinema is a fully drafted scene itself.  Barthes compares it to the process of being hypnotized, where one indulges in the ambience and the “urban dark”. This leads me to ponder whether the journey of the cinema produces the same experience for

Continue reading[Reading Response: Roland Barthes and Walter Benjamin]

In the reading ‘Leaving the Movie Theater,’ the author describes how can unique spatial aspects of movie theatres help the audience immerse into the movie world.Things in cinema are all carefully designed to create a cinematic experience that cannot be replicated at home by watching Netflix or Disney+ on TV. The large curved screens, cozy seats, complete darkness, and surround sound effects… to name but a few.   For me, the cinema is a perfect place to watch sci-fi and action movies, as the immersive environment allows me to fully enjoy the film. Recently, I watched the sci-fi movie ‘Avatar:

Continue readingReading Response: Roland Barthes

[Reading Response: Walter Benjamin] The work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media express the relationship between technology and art piece. The writer thinks that traditional art piece contains some major concept, including creativity and special value, which is different from those made by technology. The writer claimed that technological reproduction is different than we thought, it has some advantages, such as a longer preservation length. On the other hand, the authenticity of art will not be affected by technology, and it maybe devalued. The use of technology will minimize the usage of

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The article “Leaving the Movie Theatre” describes the features of a theatre that make people immerse themselves in a film, such as the dark environment, the light coming from the camera, the distance between people and the screen, and the sound. In my opinion, darkness is a big part of what gets people hooked on a film. Compared to watching a movie in the living room at home, the bright light, coffee table, TV cabinet, and other architectural elements of the home always remind us that we are moving around the home space. These often prevent us from concentrating on

Continue readingReading Response: Roland Barthes