盧米埃星系：未來電影的七個關鍵詞

Film and Culture Series

by Francesco Casetti

IMAX、3D、4DX、Blu-ray、DVD、Youtube、Netflix……
是電影？不是電影？不再是電影？依然是電影？
究竟何謂電影？

　　《盧米埃星系》乃是向麥克魯漢的經典著作《古騰堡星系》致敬。如同古騰堡印刷機帶來文字書寫的革命，盧米埃兄弟也為人類帶來影像創作的革命。

　　在二十世紀的長流裡，電影一直是顆閃亮且極易辨識的星星，高掛在天空上。但是今天已不再如此。宇宙大爆炸已然發生，電影這顆星星化成上千個太陽，各自吸引天體物質，形成新的星系。原先形成電影的元素仍然在這些天體裡，但是我們現在看到的，是有著更大範圍與更多樣結構組合的天文星系。在星系的中心和宇宙的邊緣都有光，有些如同紫外線般閃耀，有些則幾乎消耗殆盡。有新的星座與新的軌道，還有一條燦爛的銀河跨過整個天空，白天也一樣清晰可見。

　　對我們這些新世紀的居民，或說是新千禧年的居民而言，電影就是：盧米埃星系。

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published March 24, 2015

Reviews

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This extremely passionate defense of the value and continued life of cinema makes for a very thought-provoking read. Some explanations beg for a slower more careful rereading, and you are rewarded with some enlightening ideas for doing so. Perhaps the biggest shift a student of film has to make to appreciate this work is presented early in the book, namely that Casetti is coming from a experiential perspective in his approaches and his definitions. This is not to ignore other aspects but rather to incorporate the those other aspects (such as technology) into a new working understanding of cinema that keeps it alive at the same time that it transforms both itself and its history.

This is definitely a work that will reward multiple readings and is rich in references to stimulate further reading and thought.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Holly Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Francesco Casetti explores the state of contemporary cinema and its divergent new formations by using seven key words – relocation, relics/icons, assemblage, expansion, hypertopia, display, and performance – and shows how cinema is in the process of forming new relationships with spectators as it is activated in new spaces, as it encounters the art world, and as we gain a new sense of touch and tactility with images. Casetti offers an exuberant account, and invites us to understand cinema’s relocations, expansions, and reinventions as both a gesture toward the future while retaining an affectionate proximity to its vibrant past.

[Lucia Caporalini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about how cinema evolved and tried to stay alive among new devices.

[Steen Ledet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, measured analysis of the institution of cinema, rather than how individual movies work today.

[Noah Lederman Greis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a cinema studies course. Really good and surprisingly straightforward discussion of how digital media has changed the conditions for film. It’s already little dated here and there but only in minor ways.