Cinema and Theatre – Cultural Collision of the Media (1895-1914)

Marek Hendrykowski

Abstract

The author focuses on the methodological problems of studying the relationship between theatre and film in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. His starting point is the claim that in the case of relations between theatre and film in the earliest stages of the development of the cinema, we are not dealing with a simple junction between domains similar to each other, but an intriguing and very complex cultural phenomenon. Relationships between theatre and film in general have in the past been treated as a matter of course, on the one hand giving one the opportunity to exalt the theatrical Olympus as opposed to the plebeian and despised entertainment of moving pictures (they were not contemptuously called flickers by mistake). On the other hand, a belief lingered exalting the cinema as a field of creativity, which only became itself when it allegedly broke all the bonds with the theatre. The author argues that the affinities between theatre and film of the late 19^th and early 20^th century are not obvious. On the contrary, they prove to be very complex. In order to recognise them, one needs to consider several research perspectives: film studies, theatre studies, media studies, cultural studies and the comparative perspective. The cinema of the time, touched on not only theatre, but other forms of culture such as literature, painting or music. However, none of these relationships was as dramatic, tense and fruitful for future moving images, as the early evolution of the relationship with the world of theatre.