Films as Mass Art
In simple terms, films have been considered as the reflections of the
society. But studying films in the presence of agenda setting function
of media would mean otherwise. There has been a theoretical turn from a
conventional concept surrounding the categorisation of film-as-an-art
(cine-art) or expressive visual art-form to a more critical approach
accepting films as mass art or film-as-medium.
Perceived by masses in a context, films according to Adorno, are
‘mass-cult’; mass produced culture which presents a ‘flattened’ version
of the reality. Benjamin acknowledges the potential for mass art to
manipulate. “Film, as an art of the masses, embedded within society and
used by social, political, moral humans, has the potential to be
constructive or destructive” (D’Olimpio, 2014). Unlike the earlier
theorists - Adorno & Horkheimer, Benajamin’s framework stating the
potential of films to screen ideas was further reinforced by the
Deleuzean’s optimism approach to films.
No film is made in a cultural vacuum. As films are an importance source
of cultural data, film producers or filmmakers may be considered the
cultural producers on a massive scale. Films exist in a social &
cultural context one that is partially of their own creation. In film
studies in particular, non-western films are much more likely to be
“read” in terms of the influence that society or cultural contexts
have on cinematic output (Gray, 2010).
Delluc’s work reveals that cinematography has “the unique ability to
transform objects into symbols for thought and emotion” (Parkinson
1995: 64). Further, films create, produce and reinforce roles and
identities. All media texts are the representations of the reality.
“Rather than reproducing the ”world” spontaneously and automatically,
as the ideology of realism would have the spectator believe, the
cinematic apparatus always operates selectively, limiting, filtering and
transforming the images that are its raw material” (Rodowic 1994, 77).
Meanings in a film are communicated through signs. Based on certain
conventions, these signs constitute codified information (Kishor, 1999).
The codified information, narrating the story, has different meaning in
different cultures and its real interpretation is possible in the
culture where the film is based (Pandey, 2014).