Nowadays, the emergence of post-cinema has largely subverted the traditional form of cinema, post-cinema to a certain extent exceeds the narrative form and aesthetic vision of traditional cinema as well as the sense of interaction with the audience, and the innovation of the new medium of new media and digital technology greatly affects the audience’s emotions and ways of viewing. Post-cinema largely generates new and distinctive connections with audiences through novel visual styles and emotional expressions (Shaviro, 2010). Along with the rapid development of streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+, the post-cinema era has brought about a very significant shift in the way of viewing films. Nowadays, with the rapid development of digital media, the act of watching a film is not only limited by the traditional time and space arrangements, but also by the booming development of streaming media, which has brought about a very big change in the audience’s viewing experience (Shaviro, 2010). Through streaming, viewers can watch films at any time and place, on a variety of devices, achieving freedom of time and space.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is an iconic example of a Netflix interactive film where the viewer can choose the direction of the plot at all plot points, thus directly contributing to the storyline and influencing the ending. This breaks the fixed narrative constraints of traditional cinema to a certain extent, and the experience of a polyamorous ending brings a certain level of interactivity and personalisation to the viewer (Grant, 2016). One of the characteristics of post-cinema is the integration of technology and content to reveal the audience’s experience when watching a film. Digital technology can be somewhat removed from the environmental influences of a traditional cinema, thus allowing viewers to watch films in a variety of scenarios (Casetti, 2015).

While Black Mirror: Bandersnatch subverts the traditional model of cinema to a certain extent, subsequent Netflix releases have not consistently exported this interactive experience to a certain extent, and it is evident that the post-film has some challenges and limitations. This multi-branch narrative may to some extent lead to the viewer not being able to get the full story line, and the post-film may to some extent focus more on the emotional experience and less on the logical rigour of a traditional film narrative. At the same time, the audience may need to invest more experience in the interaction, which may bring a certain burden to the audience who is used to passive film watching.

Reference

Shaviro, S. (2010) ‘Post-Cinematic Affect: On Grace Jones, Boarding Gate and Southland Tales’, Film-Philosophy, 14(1), pp. 1-102.

Casetti, F. (2015) The Lumiere Galaxy: Seven Keywords for the Cinema to Come, Columbia University Press.

Grant, C. (2016) ‘The Audiovisual Film Essay as Performative Research’, Necsus Journal. Available at: Necsus Journal.

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