Death of the Cinema, long life of the Audiovisual?

Abstract

The generalization of digitization in the cinematographic field has changed not only the form of our access to the cinema but also our relationship with it, its social and cultural significance and the habits in which we consume it. The changes are so strong, radical and permanent that they imply a transformation in itself of the cinematographic fact, in such a way that we can ask ourselves, today more than ever, if we can really continue using the concept of “cinema” in the same way that we have used it all over the world the history of cinema, throughout the 20th century and until the widespread implantation of the so-called digital age. And if it’s not really the same art anymore (or the same industry), how should we refer to it? How can we re-think its meaning, its consumption, its social, cultural and artistic sphere? How is our relationship with this new digital medium? Is there anything salvageable from the old consensus about cinema and its spectator act? About its consumption and its industrial organization?