Evolution Of American Film In The Twentieth Century

Scientific advancements in the late 1800s, in areas such as photography laid the foundation for a new art called film. It has been said that film is "the art form of the twentieth century" (World Book Encyclopedia). But how will this art hold up in the twenty-first century? Through the years, the art itself, and its industry it has done much evolving, and like most subjects, it has been permanently changed with the introduction of twenty-first century technology. Film may change, but it remains a valuable part of American culture.
In looking at the evolution of American film, one industry change that has occurred is the way people experience films. Through much of the twentieth century, theaters were "the exclusive venues for Hollywood to exhibit

In earlier movies, filmmakers relied on good acting and film techniques to portray imagery. Computer generated imagery has greatly changed the experience of film. It allows filmmakers to produce vivid, larger-than-life scenes that affect moviegoers in a powerful way. Special effects became big in many movies of the 90s such as Jurassic Park, Toy Story, Independence Day, and Titanic, and in newer movie called Avatar (World Book Encyclopedia). Today it is still a vital part of film production.
Though special affects help to strengthen the impact of movies, they also take away from the art itself. Oftentimes special effects can take away from the main feature of a movie, its acting. People may come to see movies to be amazed by impressive new graphics, instead of to see a story being played out. The problem with this is that you lose the actual theme that the creators want theme that the creators want you to get from their

Hollywood has been very successful through all the ups and downs and changes in film production. The climate of Southern California and the "availability of varied scenery" still make it the perfect place to shoot films (World Book Encyclopedia). Hollywood is still the center of the industry worldwide, but many cultures around the world have begun to make films and influence film culture. The rating of films is now a hot topic in the motion picture industry. It is a known fact that Hollywood is making more R-rated films now than ever. Though this does signify that a change has taken place in what is accepted as normal, or at least what Hollywood thinks is normal in films, P and PG-13 remain the best ratings a movie can get in terms of probable success in the box office, and NC-17 remains the worst (Gustafson 97).
Music has remained a key factor in the production of film. Over the years some of the most brilliant movie productions have combined the arts of music, dancing, and acting. Hearing songs on the radio in movies often allows people to assign them more meaning. Children of the 2000s probably remember songs in the High School Musical movies, just like people who grew up in the 80s remember the music they loved in productions like Grease and Footloose, and people from the disco era remember seeing songs they loved danced too on the movie Saturday Night