Supercinema ― Film-philosophy for the Digital Age

Drawing on a variety of popular films, including Avatar, Enter the Void, Fight Club, The Matrix, Speed Racer, X-Men and War of the Worlds, Supercinema studies the ways in which digital special effects and editing techniques require a new theoretical framework in order to be properly understood. Here William Brown proposes that while analogue cinema often tried to hide the technological limitations of its creation through ingenious methods, digital cinema hides its technological omnipotence through the use of continued conventions more suited to analogue cinema, in a way that is analogous to that of Superman hiding his powers behind the persona of Clark Kent. Locating itself on the cusp of film theory, film-philosophy and cognitive approaches to cinema, Supercinema also looks at the relationship between the spectator and film that utilizes digital technology to maximum, 'supercinematic' effect.

William Brown is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Roehampton, London. He has written articles for journals and edited collections with a particular emphasis on the use of digital technology in contemporary cinema across a range of national and transnational contexts. He is also a filmmaker, having made four feature films since 2009.