Transforming cinema viewing practices in the digital age

This study examines the transformations in the concept of cinema and the changes in viewing practices within the context of postmodern society. In this thesis, cinema is considered not merely as a technical or aesthetic mode of expression but as a form of social and cultural experience. Drawing on André Bazin's fundamental question, "What is cinema?", the study argues that this question should be reformulated as "What is post-cinema?" in the contemporary context. The research explores post-cinematic viewing experiences shaped in parallel with the structural transformations of postmodern society, focusing on the dimensions that vary across different age groups. Participants were selected from various age cohorts, and the generational perceptions of cinema and viewing experiences were analyzed using a phenomenological approach. The findings reveal that digitalization, mediatization, hyper-reality, and shifts in timespace perception significantly redefine the cinematic experience. This transformation indicates a profound rupture not only in cinematic content but also in the relationship between the audience and cinema. According to the research findings, different age groups have largely integrated into post-cinematic practices brought by the digital age to a similar extent. However, participants in the older age group tend to approach the digitalization of cinema with a more nostalgic perspective, critically assessing these transformations in terms of individualization, isolation, and the superficial nature of communication forms. In contrast, younger participants exhibited limited experience with cinema as a theater-based experience and did not attribute significant meaning to such experiences. Overall, while participants generally embraced the convenience of cinema "coming to the individual" through digitalization, they also expressed concerns that this shift has trivialized the cinematic experience, weakened the quality of content, and homogenized viewing practices. In this context, post-cinema represents not only a technological evolution but also a multilayered restructuring process encompassing social, cultural, and emotional transformations. Therefore, this study offers a critical and conceptual framework that questions the position of cinema within contemporary social forms and provides an original contribution to the discourse on the future of cinematic experiences.