The False Divide: Crosstalk in the Digital Wars

As part of Time magazine’s annual look into the near future, film critic Richard Corliss made his entry (“Can this man save the movies? (Again)?” 20 March 2006) into the debate over digital technology and its impact on cinema. Corliss situates himself as a pro-digital revolutionist, taking particular note of the economic advantages of digital film making and distribution. What makes Corliss’ article problematic is not so much the side he takes, as his participation in the tendency to treat digital and “traditional” film as necessarily mutually exclusive. Why there isn’t room for both isn’t entirely clear, but Corliss, and his central informant, George Lucas, seem intent on framing the debate as if it were an either/or proposition.