Screen-Shifting: Consumption, ‘Riskless Risks’ and the Changing Geographies of Cinema

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that the geography of film exhibition in the urban West has changed significantly as ‘traditional’ town centre and suburban cinemas have been supplemented, and in some cases supplanted, by multiplex cinemas in out-of-town locations. In this paper I explore the reasons for this shift, using case-study data from Leicester (United Kingdom) to explore the forms of sociality played out in different sites of film exhibition. These data suggest that multiplex cinemas are frequented predominantly by consumer groups seeking an ‘exopolitan’ leisure experience that is predictable and riskless. In contrast, it appears there are many who continue to frequent city-centre and suburban cinemas because they prefer the less predictable ambience of ‘urban’ leisure. The coexistence of these different forms of cinemagoing is discussed in relation to unfolding debates about the postmodern city—a city that accommodates consumers' predilection for ‘riskless risks’ by holding different forms of sociality apart.