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ENGL 1120 Grinberg: Welcome

Who is the audience?

DEFINITION FOR AUDIENCE

A group of people assembled to watch and listen to a show, concert, film, or speech. The cinema audience comprises people who assemble to watch films in cinemas and other venues, both public and private; and also those who consume films via alternative platforms such as video, DVD, home cinema, and television. Quantitative data on attendances at cinemas and on cinema box-office takings are routinely gathered by the film industry, and in some countries by government bodies as well: data are normally published in the trade press and in government statistics. In film studies, the sociological or cultural notion of the cinema audience is commonly distinguished from that of the spectator, where spectatorship is understood as a relationship or engagement with the film text. Since the study of film spectatorship and the study of cinema audiences derive from distinct disciplinary approaches and methodologies, it is helpful to hold to a conceptual distinction between the two terms, spectator and audience.

Source: Kuhn, A., & Westwell, G. (2012). "Audience." In A Dictionary of Film Studies. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 11 September 2023

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