Many people believe that film is a less important art than other forms such as literature and painting. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Film

Suggestion

The film

is often looked down on as a less important

art

form in comparison with more elevated mediums like painting and literature. In my opinion, though the blatant commercialisation of

film

often undermines its claim to be

art

at all, it is a clearly more important

art

form for the 21st century. Those who would minimise the importance of

film

, can point out its primary purpose is to make money.

This

has become increasingly true in the

last

several decades as studios have assumed greater power. It used to be common for auteurs like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, and Robert Altman to make modestly budgeted films that earned decent returns. The advent of blockbuster films generally and superhero movies

in particular

make it much harder for studios catering to their shareholders to justify anything other than a tent-pole franchises. The artistic merits of these big movies tend to be low as they are often made by a committee and strive only for escapism and fan service.

However

,

film

Suggestion

the film

has clearly overtaken other forms of

art

in the popular imagination. Hundreds of years ago, composers, playwrights, novelists, and painters were held in higher esteem and their works were the centre of popular culture. Music and

film

have now displaced them. Someone who would have become a great writer in the 19th century, would now opt to make films as they can reach the greatest number of people and the medium is newer and more open to possibility. A good example of

this

would be a young filmmaker like P.T. Anderson, who creates thoughtful and

explorative

works that

also

have a degree of mass appeal. In conclusion,

film

as an

art

form is ascendant today. It is,

however

, still important for audiences to tune in to a wide breadth of genres in order to encourage the

film

industry to remain vibrant and innovative.