Film, as a medium, is hard to understand. Its magical is difficult to ascertain. Indeed, it is magical precisely because it is difficult to ascertain. Why people want to act and why people would pay good money to sit the dark to watch people act on 60-foot screens is a mystery that defies explanation. To be sure, there is no good, logical reason for it. And it’s il-logic spans now nearly four thousand years.
Though it may surprise many, the history of film only extends as far back as a century or so. But the history of film is the history of drama — the history of theater. It seems most major civilizations over the course of the 6,000 years of recorded history have indulged in some form of drama or another. Perhaps most famously, it was embraced by the Hellenistic cultures and codified into a rigorous system of religious interface well before the rise of the Roman Empire.
For the ancient Greeks, an actor was not simply playing a part, he was embodying the traits and powers of the particular god or goddess he was playing (the actors were exclusively male). To some extent, it seems our modern interpretation of acting and film echoes this sort of veneration. We think somehow the flesh and blood actors on the screen are some how divine. Should you doubt his, notice the next time a celebrity comes within fifteen feet of you.
We long to be near these “celebrities.” We do, after all, call them stars. Perhaps it is because they embody so much of our hopes and dreams that they do, in a way, become otherworldly. We live their adventures and heartaches with them, and they give us a vicarious release in return. It is a relationship that is difficult to understand for it cuts to the very marrow of what it means to be a human being, in time and space.
If you should you doubt the power and lure of film and stardom, place yourself into your favorite film, thanks to companies like Yoostar and see how you feel about watching yourself interact with Ingrid Bergman. Though you know cognitively that you are not there — your mind cannot tell the difference. To your mind and perception, the cuts back and forth mean little — for all intents and purposes, you are there, spanning time with her.
The appeal of film is the appeal of the imagination. Superimpose yourself into imagination with the aid of Yoostar.