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Going to the Movies: How This Industry Influences the World

Going to the movies is about as iconic to modern culture as it gets. While Americans might call baseball the great national pastime, buying a ticket to the movies is considered to be the world’s pastime and for a very good reason. You’ll be very hard-pressed to find anyone who hasn’t seen a movie in a theater at least once. Even more so to find someone who’s never watched a movie. It’s ingrained not only in our nation’s culture but all over the world. This is why you can’t talk about the evolution of modern culture without at least mentioning the importance of movies.

While it’s true that movies have had a very storied history over the years, there are many that already know all about its evolution. From the silent films to colored films to all the bells and whistles that we see in movies today. Instead, it would be more interesting to talk about the impact that movies have had on other industries all around the world. Just how deeply have movies embedded themselves in other forms of media? Other full-blown industries with histories of their own?

The gambling industry

Firstly, you are probably already more than aware of movies that romanticise gambling, as they used to be quite commonplace, especially in the nineties. As a matter of fact, it’s safe to say that much of the popularity of gambling could be tied to how movies tend to represent it. This doesn’t mean however that gambling was always shown in a positive light. As a matter of fact, some of the most negative representations have served to bump its popularity even further. There are even casinos out there that host the top movie themed slot machines which is an accomplishment all on its own.

It’s often said that movies mimic culture. When it comes to gambling, whether positive or negative, the movie industry has done much for gambling and vice versa. After all, many movies that focused on gambling have gone on to be critically received and end up making quite a good bit of money. Notable entries include The Hustler, Vegas Vacation, and Casino.

The gaming industry

If there’s one type of business that’s earned a great amount thanks to movies, it’s undoubtedly the gaming industry. Alongside literature and movies, these three form the triumvirate of consumable media. As a matter of fact, one could say that the gaming industry is the love child of both movies and literature with similar traits to both with one that’s especially unique – interactivity. While games didn’t always start out as popular as movies did (especially with the gaming crash of 1980), movies have had a profound effect on the way games work. You’ll often find gamers who look for a cinematic experience in their games; a term that the movie industry had coined. With all of the technological advancements throughout the years, one could say that the gaming industry is enjoying a kind of renaissance all thanks to the movie industry.

While there are far too many to count, one of the most notable video games which merged the qualities of movies with the interactivity of a game is The Last of Us, a video-game released for last and current generation consoles. It’s a melding of everything that makes both movies and games great, which is why it sold so well and is constantly touted as one of the greatest games ever made.

The art industry

When you think about older movies, a big part of that was probably the poster. Almost always painted in a realistic fashion, especially the older horror films. When you think about it, movies and art are comparably the same thing. They’re two sides of the same coin. You’ll have movies try to mimic art in its purest form with pieces such as Disney’s Fantasia, and you’ll have art constantly use movies as a source of inspiration in almost every piece you can imagine. At this point, you’ll be hard-pressed to find the influence of one without the other, so much so that it feels like they’ve merged together. The same can be said about video games as well, which begs the question, are video games art? While that is still being debated, movies most definitely are quality pieces of art without question.

The world of literature

While it’s safe to say that literature has no doubt been influenced by the movie industry in many significant ways, it’s important to note that many movies got their start from literature. In fact, many of the greatest movies ever told started out as a novel of some form or another. This, in turn, led to the world of literature being inspired by the movie industry, creating many different pieces based on the movies we watch in theaters.

They’re merged together similarly to art because literature is yet another form of art. It’s difficult to say whether movies will continue to exist without literature, but there will be a very large piece missing from the puzzle if any of these important aspects were to disappear. They continue to keep each other going – urging the other to break the limits of what it means to be a movie or a piece of literature. This kind of double-sided inspiration is rare in any industry, but literature and movies are able to accomplish it so seamlessly.

To conclude, movies were spawned from culture, and in turn, it created a cultural movement of its own. There can be no doubt that the movie industry has had a hand in improving many other different types of industries over the years. Yet the same can also be said about the movie industry itself. It continues to pioneer and reinvent, taking inspiration from industries than in turn take inspiration from it in a beautiful cycle. The relationship that the movie industry has with others in the world is something that is almost impossible to replicate. This makes movie culture one of the most important in the modern world, and it will likely only continue to grow from here.

 

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