Sunday 6 January 2008

Tonight I tried to 1903 my brain.

Tonight I went to the cinema and watched a film that was made in 1903. It was the first narrative film, ever. It's hard to even imagine them having films back then, but they did. I sat back in my seat and I tried to get into the mindset of a person from the year 1903. It was quite difficult. My mind was kind of blank. All I could think about was how I'd have never got to my seat if I'd been wearing a long dress, never mind one with bustles or crinolines or what have you.

As it started, I tried to imagine what it would be like, to be seeing film for the first time. Apparently people ran out of the theatres screaming, thinking they were being shot at. And I watched it hoping to be scared, hoping that I had 1903'd my brain enough to be full of wonder at the scenes unfolding before my eyes. But it didn't work. My brain hung onto the digital age and smirked. And I just felt disappointed.

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