L'utopie numérique : discours et réalités sur la numérisation des salles de cinéma illustrés par le cas de l'entreprise DigiScreen
The goal of this thesis is to demonstrate the impossible realization of the "myth of Hollywood digital disruption" as described by Kira Kitsopanidou. This idea put simply suggests the enlargement of film diversity in theaters due to the advent of digital technology. This myth, which perpetuates the idea of Hollywood’s death, was carried by several texts (espacially thoses produced by mass media) and participate in what can be qualified, following Foucault, as a "discursive formation" revolving around technology. The first chapter will analyze the main differences between this utopic discourse and reality based on the socio-economic factors affecting the processes of innovation’s implementation, particulary thoses related to the movie theaters. Secondly, we will consider the realities that affect the implementation of digital technology in movie theaters. Advantagously, these also explain the slowness of this process, a situation that was interpreted by the discourse as a delay. The third chapter will illustrate the concepts discussed in the previous chapters, using as a case study the example of DigiScreen, a company that wanted to increase film diversity in movie theaters by providing theatre owners with digital equipment at discounted prices. DigiScreen in some ways encapsulates the hopes generated by the digital utopia. Finally, we will look at different cases which draw a portrait of the digitization of theatres in the early years of the twenty-first century.
distribution DigiScreen movie theatre digital