In Broad Daylight : Movies and Spectators After the Cinema

The cave and the mirror -- Toward the dark cube -- Vitruvius's sons -- The age of freedom -- The aesthetic of the shark -- Desdemona must die -- Low-impact catharsis.;From plasma screens to smartphones, moving images are everywhere. How do films adapt to this new situation? And how has the experience of the spectator changed? Facing one of the decisive transformations in the history of Western aesthetics, In Plain Light investigates film in the age of personalized media and explores the metamorphosis of a spectator increasingly free but also increasingly loath to be truly moved by the images flashing around us. Moving freely from the philosophy of mind to film theory, from architectural practice to ethics, from Leon Battista Alberti to Orson Welles, Gabriele Pedulla examines the revolution of the moving image that is remodeling the entire system of the arts and creativity in all its manifestations.

From plasma screens to smartphones, today moving images are everywhere. How have films adapted to this new environment? And how has the experience of the spectator changed because of this proliferation? In Broad Daylight investigates one of the decisive shifts in the history of Western aesthetics, exploring the metamorphosis of films in the age of individual media, when the public is increasingly free but also increasingly resistant to the emotive force of the pictures flashing around us. Moving deftly from philosophy of mind to film theory, from architectural practice to ethics, from Leon Battista Alberti to Orson Welles, Gabriele Pedullà examines the revolution that is reshaping the entire system of the arts and creativity in all its manifestations.

In this book the author explores the metamorphosis of films in the age of individual media, where the public is increasingly free to view films whenever and wherever they choose, but also increasingly resistant to the emotional impact of film Introduction The cave and the mirror Toward the dark cube Vitruvius's sons The age of freedom The aesthetic of the shark Desdemona must die Low-impact catharsis.