I am currently reading Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire, which is about the evolution of four plant species: the apple, the tulip, cannibis, and the potato. The book argues that plants have evolved symbiotically with humans, and have had to figure out what humans desire most in order to maximize their chances of reproductive survival. The four plants in question have evolved by responding, respectively, to the human desire for sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and nourishment. The idea that plants have domesticated us just as much as we have domesticated plants is an interesting, and it seems to me, entirely convincing one.
The same could be said for cinema. Filmmakers have evolved symbiotically with their audiences, and have had to figure out what humans desire most in order to maximize their chances of cinematic survival. Fortunately, audiences don't desire just one thing. And like their plant predecessors, it could be argued that filmmakers have evolved by responding to the human desire for sweetness (Hollywood cinema), beauty (art cinema), intoxication (the thriller/horror film) and nourishment (documentary cinema).
posted by Caveh Zahedi at
11:01 PM
