In his 2010 book, Post Cinematic Affect, American author and critic Steven Shaviro talks abou the ways in which audiovisual technologies and techniques have changed over time, as well as the associated aesthetics and structures of feeling. This shift is not simply a matter of more rapid and non-linear forms of editing, or images being fabricated in multiple digital ways—live action photography is just one possibility—but about new forms of sensibility and subjectivity that both respond to and drive this new regime.

To explore this concept, let’s take a look at the phenomenon of streaming exclusive releases. Though it’s become more common in recent years, streaming platforms such as Netflix have been releasing original content since 2013. This shift from cinema releases to streaming exclusives has promoted a different affect than what one experiences in a theatre release. For example, when watching a film in a cinema, viewers are typically seated in silence with other members of the audience. There is a shared experience of watching the film unfold on the big screen. In contrast, when streaming a film at home, viewers can watch alone or with others in their household; they may also be engaged in other activities while the film plays in the background. This different affect can be attributed to post-cinematic structures of feeling.

When discussing post-cinematic affect, it’s important to consider how technological advancement has changed our understanding and experience of time. In “The Cinema Effect,” Shaviro writes: “new modes of virtuality have affected our very perception of temporal duration.” He goes on to say that “the passage of time has been rendered more mutable, plastic, and contingent than ever before.” In other words, thanks to advances in technology, our relationship to time has changed; we now have a greater sense of control over how we experience time—we can speed it up or slow it down, pause it or rewind it. This idea is significant when considering how we consume media today. For example, with traditional cinema releases, there is a set timeframe for watching the film; once it’s over, it’s over. With streaming exclusives, however, viewers can watch the film at their own pace—they can pause it if they need to take a break or rewatch certain scenes. As Shaviro suggests, this change in how we experience time is directly related to post-cinematic structures of feeling.

In conclusion, post-cinematic affect refers to the ways in which audiovisual technologies and techniques have changed over time, as well as the associated aesthetics and structures of feeling. This shift is not simply a matter of more rapid and non-linear forms of editing or images being fabricated in multiple digital ways—live action photography is just one possibility—but about new forms of sensibility and subjectivity that both respond to and drive this new regime.

Author: Eike Gantois

References:

Shaviro, Steven. Post Cinematic Affect. United Kingdom, 2010.