Film is a reflection of society, both present and past.

I think the film and it’s innovations

sometimes has to catch up to society but sometimes it leads society too. Movies are stories,
movies are people who come out with ideas about something they want to say, something
they want to tell someone. Movies are a form of communication and that communication,
those stories, come from societies- not just where society is presently and what it’s doing
now- but where society has been. It’s been that way for as long as movies have been
around!

The cinema certainly is capable of two functions: it can tell us things which are unknown to
anyone and it can also tell us things which are already known to others. Thus the cinema has
at least two roles -- the role of discovery and the role of communication. There may be
others. The role of discovery. By use of cinema we can discover things which are unknown,
These discoveries are made possible by a number of capabilities of the cinema.

First, the cinema is photographic. It records an image which can be studied repeatedly, and
which is impersonal and objective. Most of us have heard of professors of law who have
purposely arranged to have their lectures inter-rupted by a brawl, then asked their students
to write down what happened. The descriptions of the students are invariably inaccurate.
Motion pictures of the fights could be analyzed with more accuracy, although with
attendant two-dimensional shortcomings. Indeed motion pictures are now being used by
many a law enforcement officer for the purpose of securing objective proof of drunken-
nesai, to the chagrin of the defendent but to the satisfaction of the court.

Second, the cinema can speed up time through time lapse cinematography. We are all
familiar with time-lapse films, and it is significant that the U. S. Department of Agriculture
has been using this photomechanical technique for over thirty years as a valuable aid in
scientific observation.

Third, the cinema can slow down time through high speed cinematography, "Slow motion"
pictures taken at speeds from 64 frames per second to a malion or more per second have
made possible analyses of a long list of motions, from baseball batting to explosions.

Fourth, cinema is adaptable to other investigational devices, such as the microscope and the
telescope, Cinernicrography has long been established as an aid in observation in the
biological sciences.

Because of these characteriatice of cinema1 we can use it to see things which we could not
otherwise see due to physical or practical limitations to observa. don, and in this way we can
make discoveries. Football coaches now run films of their games over and over, studying the
movement of each player and
Similar to the Ebert quotation, film is meant to stimulate emotion. This isn't restricted to
happiness or joy (which we usually equate with 'entertainment'). It's simply one aspect of a
myriad of emotions a film can evoke. Some films stop here, and there's nothing wrong with that.
We go in, get a little scared, have a few laughs, feel elated, and exit the theatre.
Some films go a little further and comment on the emotions they expect us to feel. This is where
dialogue happens within the viewer. People have all sorts of a ideas on the purpose of art. Just
my opinion here, but it seems that the best works set out to create this dialogue to change the
viewer's perspective on the world around them. The goal isn't necessarily to change their entire
worldview but just make them a little more aware of humanity.

The function of art is to communicate in ways that other forms can not. If we accept that cinema
is art, and it is, then its main function is to communicate whatever the primary author intends to
impart on its audience. It can be a message, an idea, a set of themes, a tone, a mood, or an
emotional concept, as well as a bunch of other stuff I'm probably not thinking of at the moment.
Anyways, it's very similar to Ebert's idea of the empathy machine. The artist communicates
something through art as a way of contextualization and the audience responds, positively or
negatively, to it. There are more nuances to it of course, but that's the basic nature of it.

To find an overarching purpose in film, one would first have to find the overarching purpose of all
art, a matter that has been dealt with in aesthetics for a long time with no firm conclusion. I think
the closest general statement of purpose in film is found in Ebert's quote posted by sadfly.
I, however, don't think empathy should be the sole purpose of film or filmmaking. While writing
Come and See with Ales Adamovich, Klimov realized no one would want to watch the film, and
told Adamovich. Adamovich replied: Let them not watch it. This is something we must leave after
us, as evidence of war, and a plea for peace.
Thus we have Film As Empathy Machine, and Film As Memory. Others may find other purposes.

A typical Indian film has it all-all the spice and variety of life condensed into it,
transporting the audience on a magic carpet to a totally different world where everything
and anything is possible.
From stereotyped love stories to action to drama to realistic to fictional – the silver screen
in its every aspect has mesmerized, captured and tantalized millions of every age, class,
sex and community.
Cinema also is great unifying force in a diversified country like ours. People belonging to
all communities and sections, speaking and language watch the cinema with the same
fascination and excitement. Moreover, people can go places with cinema. We travel from
Ooty to Shimla to Switzerland to Washington to Sydney.
It also encourages the art of music, singing, dancing, script-writing, direction etc.
It employs a large number of people from technicians to producers to spot-boys to dress-
makers. Thousands of people earn their livelihood through cinema.