The Cinephile is DEAD!

Cinephile - a person with a passionate interest in cinema, movie theory, and film criticism.

Are Group's like the ICS any longer relevant?

With the vast amount of movie and TV content being produced each year, and internet access to all of it - everyone has become a cinephile. With access to more content than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago, becoming a cinephile is now simple.  But, on the flip-side to this all access pass, is the need for time to consume this huge array of entertainment.  "The vast majority of the world's books, films, TV, and art you will never see", says Linda Holmes, media consultant and author, and she is right!

Easy access but not enough time to digest it all. This comes to the topic of FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) which is now rampant not only in regards to cinephilia but for our quest for information in general.
FOMO refers to the anxiety and inadequacy humans feel when using social media.  This concept isn't specific to the information age but the proliferation of social media, which has caused people, on a global scale, to feel they are missing out on something other than what they are doing - like reading this blog - to the point that they are constantly checking their phone say during a party, rather than enjoying the party.

To be honest, the only solution for cinephiles is to admit that they can't become a cinephile in the 'old'  meaning of the term - thus the cinephile is dead.  People must come to grips with the fact that they are not going to be able to watch every movie, to accept that much of what they miss will be great, and to admit that this is Ok - that , however incomplete their knowledge, they still love the cinema.

Perhaps it isn't that cinephilia is dead, it has just become irrelevant.  There is now no difference between a cinephile and the average media consumer.  Once a member of an elite group, technology and social media have granted everyone admission to the cinephile club, and maybe this is as it should be.

Best
Jim Lavorato