Impact aesthetics: Back to the future in digital cinema? Millennial fantasies

Abstract

This article engages recent debates about the future of cinema in the digital age. Firstly, it seeks to broaden the rather narrow terms in which the transition to digital cinema is often understood in film theory. Secondly, it tries to assess claims about the 'demise of narrative' frequently associated with the digital threshold. On one level, it is argued that a dialectical understanding of the relation between terms such as 'narrative' and 'spectacle' is needed to advance current debates. On another level, it is suggested that digital technology should not be wholly defined by the current dominance of 'blockbuster' films. In place of technological determinism, an understanding based on the..