- Question
Is cinema dead?
Has cinema, as an art form and an experience, had its day? This entry sets out the two positions on the question — that cinema is dead, and that it is not — amid streaming, blockbusters and changing habits.
Position 1 of 2
Read this position →Yes, cinema is dead
This position holds that cinema as a distinct art and a shared public experience has ended, surviving as content on domestic screens while the theatrical form that gave the medium its grammar and its audience has lost both.
Position 2 of 2
Read this position →No, cinema is not dead
This position holds that cinema has changed its channels of distribution without ceasing to exist, since films are still made, watched and argued over, and a medium with a living audience and new work is altered rather than dead.