The genesis of cinema: From primitive societies to the early 20th century

Abstract

If we take an ontological instead of a technological perspective on cinema, it will be impossible to either determine the exact time of its origin or to specify individual creators. This article aims to identify and analyze the most stable properties that internally determined the essence of cinema during its genesis as a specific cultural phenomenon. In particular, the article focuses on three main components. First, the practice of dividing movement into separate phases and their subsequent assembly. It is emphasized that it was not the improvement of technologies for reproducing natural movement that was crucial, but the artistic understanding of the potential for constructing completely different images of movement. Second, procedures for reading images that have been formed over many centuries and are based on the experience of summing up visual impressions. Cinema uses the result of summation produced by the author and presents individual impulses to the viewer, which they will have to sum up on their own. Finally, a special nature of the interaction between the screen and the viewer based on the value of feeling the reality of the virtual. Regardless of whether the viewing is collective (in a cinema hall) or individual (on a computer), whether it takes place on a large screen or on a smartphone, the key point is the co-existence of the viewer and the film in the conditions and context of familiar reality. As a result, it was shown that cinema is rooted in ancient times and its formation as a separate art form happened only 10–15 years after its technical invention by the Lumiere brothers.