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Commerical narrative cinema continues to hold on to the classical realist style where images function as unretouched photographic records of some events that took place in front of the camera. Cinema refuses to give up its unique cinema effect, an effect that, according to Christian Metz's penetrating analysis made in the 1970s, depends upon narrative form, the reality effect, and cinema's architectural arrangement all working together.
Toward the end of his essay, Metz wonders whether in the future nonnarrative films may become more numerous; if this happens, he suggests that cinema will no longer need to manufacture its reality effect. Electronic and digital media have already brought about this transformation. Since the 1980s, new cinematic forms have emerged that are not linear narratives, that are exhibited on a television or a computer screen rather than in a movie theater - and that simultaneously give up cinematic realism. (Manovich 1999, pp. 183-4.)
Adrian Miles: Hypertext syntagmas: cinematic narration with links
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