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But since the present situation of the film cannot be really understood in any of its parts without having insight into its historical growth, some historical considerations are incorporated in their proper place in the general crosssection: the development of the e ononnc foundations of the film, from its beginning up to the present time, the development oi its different artistic techniques, and the development of distribution and exhibition.
This makes it possible to elucidate something else ot importance. The film reveals not only its own development, it appears at a very definite moment in the general development of human culture. Its appearance is not accidental, but fulfils an historical need, equally from the technical, social and artistic points of view. The film cannot be isolated from the history of econoinics and from the history of society ; it occupies a very definite place in economic and social development. And in addition, it plays a definite part in the history of the theatre, painting, literature and music.
To know all this is indispensable for a real understanding of what the film is today and what it could be in the future. Some historical analysis included in the general cross-section helps to clarify this.
Of the manifold types of contemporary films — among them the fiction film, the documentary film, the newsreel, the advertising film and the amateur film — only the fiction film is treated in this book. This is because the fiction film is undoubtedly the most influential, and also because the cultural problems of the film appear most obviously in the fiction film.
It was harder for us to omit discussion of film technique. The nature of the fiction film particularly is determined to a significant degree by its technique. Our attitude concerning the technical aspect of the fiction film has been adopted in a purely arbitrary way, on one plate only. However, there arc enough occasions to mention this technical aspect of the various problems of the film when dealing with them. A detailed presentation of film technique and its historical development, on which a rich specialized hterature already exists, would have taken us outside the f amework of this book.
VII