Chapter 7

   So here's a shock: Guess who was the first to come up with the idea of television? If you read the first sentence under "The Development of Film" you already know, but for those of you didn't, "The concept of film goes back as early as Leonardo DaVinci, who theorized in the late 1400's about creating a device that would reproduce reality" (213). What didn't this guy theorize?
   Movies were probably very exciting to people even when there was no sound, however, I am most interested in what people must of thought about the introduction of sound into movies. I couldn't imagine nowadays watching a film and not hearing the actors talk. Even just not being able to hear the music that films use to set the mood. You know, like in a horror movie when the music gets louder and louder and then the killer shows up and everyone screams. "Boosted by the innovation of sound, annual movie attendance in the United States rose from sixty million a week in 1927 to ninety million a week in 1929" (223). With stattistics like that, it's safe to say that implementing sound into movies was a change for the better.
   Whenever you go out to watch a movie, the first thing most people say is "well what are you in the mood for?" Movies come in all different types of genres, comedies like Step Brothers, Happy Gilmore, and The Hangover; Action movies like Die Hard, Kill Bill, and Indiana Jones; and Horror movies like The Ring, Frankenstein, and Nightmare on Elm Street. If you want to see it, Hollywood's got it. All genres have their own underlying themes. Whether it be good vs. evil or rags to riches, the themes usually have just a small difference from each other, but are different none the less. "A western typically features 'good' cowboys battling 'evil' bad guys...Romances present conflicts that are mediated by the ideal of love...Mystery/suspense, usually casts 'the city' as a corrupting place that needs to be covercome by the moral courage of a heroic detective" (225).
   The movie industry is trying its best to stay current, and more importantly, to not end up like the music industry. They know that the music industry was ruined by the internet, so they are trying their best to stay ahead of illegal downloaders. "After witnessing the difficulties illegal file sharing brought on the music labels, the movie industry has more quickly embraced the Internet" (241). With movies being offered through services such as iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, I feel there is no reason to download movies illegally. If I don't buy or rent the movie I want from the store, then I will just flip to my on demand channels and access movies that way. The movie industry has done a great job of staying ahead. With iTunes unleashing the capability to rent movies for a low price, and Netflix allowing users to instantly watch movies, the movie industry shouldn't have much to worry about. They adapted very well to new technology.