This weekend, I read Edward Ross's comic book How Cinema Works. Theory and history of cinema”.

I chose the book to rest my head after a difficult week and full time preparations for Monday’s performances at the dotNext conference and the book fully justified itself. The author examines how cinema has changed over time and highlights some themes that go through all the time, but sound with different volumes at different times:) The book itself consists of the following parts: At the dawn of cinema, the camera perceived something objective and conveying what happened in reality. But then it became clear that you can change your point of view and the camera lost its impartiality. Body – Throughout the history of cinema, actors’ bodies have been objectified and often performed as eye treats or potential rewards. It is interesting that through the cinema, the norms of how not only the bodies of actors, but also the bodies of spectators should look like are easily transmitted:) Decorations and architecture - from some point it became clear that the environment of the characters can act not just as an extra, but also independently tell a story or add volume to what is happening on the screen Time – Initially, time in the movie was linear, but then the directors learned to change its rhythm, insert flashbacks or even reverse it. Language and voice - silent cinema was replaced by cinema, in which voice became a significant factor and this added opportunities to creators. This chapter mentions Hitler and a Charlie Chaplin parody of him in The Great Dictator. Ideology and power – cinema eventually became a means of explicit and hidden propaganda, through which you can instill the right thoughts in the population. Technology and technophobia – It’s ironic that cinema is made possible by technology and innovation, but movies often show dystopian images of our technological development. I have a hypothesis that it is easier to sell tickets for such paintings, since technophobic fears catch us much better than technophilic stories about how everything will be fine:)

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