Movie production is one of the world's most enduring, exciting, and economically prosperous industries. Whether Bollywood or Hollywood, Bonnie and Clyde or Batman Returns, the film industry continues to rake in the dough and please a wide range of audiences. Chapter 6 of the text describes the origin of the film industry and its evolution and development. The authors also discuss the potential for film to influence cultural values as well as its importance in shaping them. The film industry began somewhat as an offshoot of still photography, which first made an impact in the late nineteenth century. The commercial appeal of motion pictures was soon apparent and innovators in the United States and in Europe helped to develop the technologies required to run the cameras and viewing equipment. For example, early movies capitalized on the viewing box and photographic technology invented by Americans like William Dickson and George Eastman but it was the French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumiere who developed the ability to project the photographic motion pictures onto a wall or screen. As a result, the first film house opened in Paris, not the United States, in 1895. However, Thomas Edison seized upon the new projection technology and patented a projection system. Edison's company would later develop sound technologies that were used to enhance the viewing experience of early motion pictures.

The film industry flourished in the 1940s and reached its peak around 1948, when weekly revenues peaked at an astounding $90 million. The film industry in the United States has never yet enjoyed such tremendous prosperity, mostly due to the invention and popularity of the television. However, films remain one of the most vital creative industries in the nation and throughout the world.

The film industry responded to television's popularity first by attempting to trump television's technology. However, innovations such as Smell-o-Vision, 3D glasses, and peripheral vision screens fell short of revitalizing box office sales in the 1950s...

Therefore, the motion picture industry ventured where no television producer had gone before: tackling tough social and political issues that were either banned or shunned by the television industry. Films had traditionally toyed with sensitive issues such as sexuality, but until the advent of television, the film industry remained relatively conservative. In the 1960s, in an attempt to garner more of an audience and to create niche markets, the film industry explored issues like racism, economic inequity, homosexuality, and youth culture in ways that television could not. Whereas television had to remain family-friendly, clean, and homogenous, filmmakers could experiment because the viewers literally came to them.
Therefore, although movie revenues dropped significantly over the years since the boom of the 1940s, films became provocative and socially conscious. Moreover, filmmakers had more creative leeway than their counterparts in television. The authors show how television and film have largely converged in many areas, however, largely due to financial needs. For example, television networks and movie production houses are often owned by the same major corporation. Such media conglomerates have leveled the playing field on both big and small screens.

The authors also touch upon on the importance of independent filmmakers. Even in a world of media conglomerates, independent filmmakers are needed to supply their creative enterprises to the major distributors. There is a symbiotic relationship between independent filmmakers and the big movie production houses, because the latter often relies on the former to reduce their production costs while still reaping the box office benefits. Independent filmmakers retain the rights to creatively control their projects but can also take advantage of the distribution benefits offered by the large movie moguls. The…