The Aesthetic and Narrative Dimensions of 3D Film: New Perspectives on Stereoscopy

Abstract

With the digital revival of stereoscopic films at the end of the new millennium, cinema once again attracted the attention of the public after a very long time: Not only that 3D films run incredibly successful with audiences, they are also widely discussed in critical and popular discourses and led to a renewal of the film industry and the modes of production. In addition, academic research in film and media studies, history of technology and sociology of film shows a trend towards the stereoscopic film. Although in the recent past a range of basic research has been provided on the history of the stereoscopic film and the corresponding technological developments, the production and use of stereoscopic images, consumption and reception as well as the dynamics of the film and franchise economy, research on the stereoscopic film in general seems to be underrepresented. This especially becomes evident with respect to the fact that stereoscopic films have existed since early cinema and whilst there have been attempts to “revive” it ever since, this has long been neglected in academic discourse. Only gradually is the stereoscopic film becoming a subject of historiographical revision and film theoretical and narratological examinations.