We often hear the expression ‘seventh art’ to talk about cinema and, although today no one doubts that cinema is, indeed, an art, there was not always such a consensus. The first projections by the Lumière brothers date back to 1895 and it took a long time for cinema to be considered one of the arts.
Why cinema is the seventh art
Although cinema always receives this name, technically there is no hierarchy among what are considered arts. In fact, there have been several classifications throughout history, different categories have been incorporated into the list. The major arts, also called fine arts, are generally considered to be They are painting, architecture, sculpture, music, poetry and theater.
It was at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Italian film critic and playwright Ricciotto Canudo wanted to add it to this list and considered it the seventh art, coining this term. He explained his reasons for considering it as such in his Manifesto of the Seven Arts (1923), where considered cinema as a ‘total art’a text that gave rise to the classification of the arts that was universally accepted.
“The seventh art reconciles all the others in this way,” explained Canudo in his manifesto, where he explained that cinema is a plastic art in motion and highlighted that cinema combines elements of all the previous artsgiving rise to a completely new and unmatched experience.
Currently, making a classification of art is not easy, artistic movements are transversal, feeding each other. However, the concept of ‘seventh art’ was so popular in the film industry that appropriated the term and he used it to his advantage, something that did not seem so good to Canudo and that is why he published his manifesto.
Cinema is the art of tell stories through the projection of images, consists of projecting frames quickly and successively to create the illusion of movement. To create cinema it is necessary to combine many capacities at a creative, technical and financial level, in editing, direction, photography, script, sound, production… Cinema is one of the ways in which society narrates its stories and circumstances through of audiovisual discourse.
With the addition of cinema as a seventh art to the list, would finalize the classification of those that are considered the main, but these seven art forms are not the only ones that have been considered as such. Curiously, photography, which was invented before cinema, took longer to be considered an art and, over time, the list has expanded, also incorporating comics, graphic design, advertising, television, video games, tattoos, origami and cooking, for example.
Art is a broad concept, because it encompasses all human creations made to express a vision of the world, whether real or imaginary. Through plastic, linguistic or sound resources, it allows ideas, emotions, perceptions and sensations to be expressed. Fine arts represent an exploration of the human condition, the will to make and appreciate art is common to all human societies throughout time.
Themes
2024-01-28 05:44:17
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