The Cinemas of Transactions: The Exchangeable Currency of the Digital Attraction

Abstract

This article argues that the computerization of audiovisual culture has led to a “cinemas of transactions.” Asserting that computer-generated image forms now function as a single currency across multiple audiovisual economies, this article posits a new understanding of digital attractions as constituting a cinemas of transactions. Neither a singular, unitary “cinema” nor a singular “transaction,” the cinemas of transactions constitutes a complex and multiply interrelated system of textual, technological, aesthetic, and economic developments whereby computer-generated attractions and promotional practices span many media and textual forms. Most importantly, however, the cinemas of transactions does not represent a radical break from past configurations of cinematic and audiovisual promotional history; rather (as the name suggests), it represents the continuation of a relationship initiated at the inception of cinema history.