Tuesday, May 12, 2009

In Flesh and Blood

I find ads like the ones here fascinating because they point to a fundamental ambivalence toward the recorded nature of the motion picture medium. Note how the ad bills the "flesh and blood" performance by actors in the theater as an "enhancement." Such ads provide insight into why "live" entertainment beyond the accompanying music might have remained such a large part of the experience and definition of cinema until the sound film became the dominant form of exhibition.

Source: Duluth News Tribune 28 & 31 October 1916, 6

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