Jérémie Peltier is director of studies at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. He recently published
Se divertir demain
(Éd L'Observatoire, 2020).
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A year ago, almost to the day, Culture in general, and cinema in particular, were already worried: after being put on hold for several months, cinemas reopened in the famous "orange zones" , with entries divided by three compared to the year before. Among the 2000 cinemas in our national territory (unique territorial network in this area), 10% then decided to keep the doors closed, for lack of profitability. And remember, the Grand Rex, famous and mythical Parisian cinema, which remained open during the Second World War, had announced in the middle of summer that it was closing its doors temporarily, due to lack of spectators, while Disney was coming from announce that "Mulan", a long awaited blockbuster by French cinemas at the time,would ultimately not be released in American cinemas, but only on its Disney + platform, acknowledging with this symbol that releases only on platforms would be the standard tomorrow in our bespoke society.
The act of showing off before entering a cinema seems, in view of the first attendance figures, something insurmountable for many of our fellow citizens.
Jeremiah Peltier
One year later, where are we? For a week now, a certain number of places of culture (theaters, cinemas, festivals) as soon as they welcome 50 people or more, have been accessible only on presentation of the health pass (except for minors, exempted up to the end of summer). And the fact of showing off before entering a cinema seems, in view of the first attendance figures, something insurmountable for many of our fellow citizens: the theaters have indeed been deserted since the appearance of the health pass Wednesday July 21, with a drop in attendance compared to the previous Wednesday estimated at around 70% on the day the pass came into force according to the National Federation of Film Publishers (Fnef).Between the weekend of July 17 and that of the following week, it is a drop of 45% in attendance that we have seen. Even the most anticipated films of the summer,
Fast & Furious
and
Black Widow
, lost 80% of their entries.
Consequence: the sector speaks of "
industrial disaster
", "
coup de grace
", backtracking very worrying, and calls for emergency measures from the government to compensate for the drop in attendance, and the return of partial activity for the employees.
We can then compare this great desertion to the great democratic withdrawal observed during the last regional and departmental elections.
Jeremiah Peltier
Faced with this “great desertion”, what can we conclude?
What does this say about our relationship with cinema?
Several hypotheses can be stated.
First, and this dates before the pandemic, this great withdrawal in the face of "constraint" is a new sign that the cinema has become a place of consumption like any other. Thus, when the effort seems too important (in this case, to present a health pass, a recent negative test or a certificate of cure), the modern individual does not consume any more. He waits for the product to become attractive and easily accessible again. We can then compare this great desertion to the great democratic withdrawal observed during the last regional and departmental elections. The injunction "
Go vote
" has become as tiring for a soggy society as the injunction "
Go get vaccinated.
". This means that for cinema, as for democracy, the party is over, even though the public was gradually coming back and the "movie festival" boasted of historic results (without understanding that individuals have “Overplayed” the return to life, on the terraces as in the rooms, during deconfinement). Adding the term “party” to “cinema” should have alerted us. Most of the time, when the word "party" is appended to a domain, it is the time to worry about the survival of the domain in question. Thus, the feast of music undoubtedly marked the beginning of the end of music, the feast of Europe symbolized the end of a myth, and the feast of the neighbors hid the victory of the society of the cocoon and the withdrawal into self. Moreover,the last Césars ceremony was the very illustration that the cinema was no longer a party, instrumentalized by causes that escapes it and that scare the spectators away. The film festival is then the last tour of the old world before its disappearance.
So, to put it another way, if the cinema is not worth the “effort” to be vaccinated, it is because people can now do without it, at least for the moment.
Like the very act of voting, the cinema will have become partly obsolete, now part of the old world that was too expensive, just like nightclubs, at home party time, speakers. Bluetooth, Netflix and video projectors.
In addition, the modern individual constantly wishing for change, the future is undoubtedly no longer in the fixed place.
Movie theaters will find it difficult to escape the ephemeral phenomenon.
Jeremiah Peltier
In addition, the unstable situation, which costs a lot of money to cinemas and film distributors (How many postponements since the start of the pandemic? How many “mistreated” films?) Raises the question of the survival of the very form of movie theater. Like a year ago, a number of venues are assuming that it is better to stay closed rather than open with so few spectators. It is the same analysis that a certain number of restaurants and bars draw, hence the rise of ephemeral bars and ephemeral terraces. In an increasingly unstable environment, isn't the future, also with the cinema, in ephemeral theaters? Ephemeral projections? What is theinterest in paying rents and keeping a lot of films stored on reels until it ends? In addition, the modern individual constantly wishing for change, the future is undoubtedly no longer in the fixed place. Movie theaters will find it difficult to escape the ephemeral phenomenon.
The other question posed by this desertion of the public because of the sanitary pass is the size of the rooms. Indeed, rooms accommodating less than fifty spectators are not obliged to request a health pass at the entrance. This means that smaller venues have an advantage in the period. Does the future belong to the little ones? Like recent football stadiums, gigantic while never full, even before the Covid, the future for cinemas may be far from the gigantism of the time.
Finally, with the health pass, the cinema is the victim of the end of chance and the death of strolling. Beyond the fact that nobody any longer understands anything about the rules to be respected, the cinema as we knew it cannot survive in a society of the end of the chance, where it is no longer possible to go to see a film on a whim without having booked before. In an age of constant reservation and anticipation, algorithms and contamination curves, the cinema will never be a coincidence as before.