Tom Gunning

What I found fascinating about this reading is the assertion that audiences shouldn't be thought of as having been any more mystified in the early years of cinema as they are today. Being a film major I have heard the myth of the terrified audience member many times, and it's always touted as some sort of large achievement under the belt of the film industry. However, when I think about the first time I can remember seeing a movie the fact that this very well could have been a myth makes sense. Yes feelings of astonishment and even amazement can be remembered from my early film viewing years, but I can never once remember feeling terrified or convinced that whatever is on the screen is actually real. To assume that early cinema audiences may have a different reaction would also be to assume that their intelligence and intuition is lesser than that of modern day children, which is just silly and ignorant to assume. I think this is an important thing to realize, because it shows that underestimating your audience simply leads to alienating them as a cooperative member in the filmmaker/audience relationship, which can cause the filmmaker to make choices that could ironically lead to underwhelming the audience rather than having a significant impact on them.