The Love for Cinema Undergoing Transformations: Internationalization and Cosmopolitanism Patterns of Uruguayan Cinephiles

Abstract

Today, love for cinema is one of the most significant cultural consumptions for exploring the current cultural practices and aesthetic preferences of individuals. This article poses questions in relation to how the love for cinema is transformed, considering three dimensions of change: aesthetic taste and options, different forms of induction and acquisition of cultural capital or resources for consolidating such love, and the concretion of that love through practices and routines. The outcome has shown that the new ways of cinephilia that coexist with modern patterns have become more cosmopolitan and international, as well as more democratic and, in a way, less erudite, for they have gained ludic and emotional aspects. The manner in which cinephiles appreciate cinema these days is less technical than before, and more independent as regards the traditional institutions and social agents of cinema, all in pursuit of a process of technological change relative to access and viewing. Such transformations imply novel aesthetic trends derived from a greater insertion in global culture and the existence of new technological and audiovisual cultural capitals. These result not only from technological advances but also from the generational change that has an impact on the ways and meanings of cinema as a form of cultural consumption. The basis of the results obtained is a qualitative research founded on twenty semi-structured interviews with cinephiles related to institutions from the field of movie projection and film schools in Uruguay, namely, Cinemateca Uruguaya and Dodecá.