[1] Moving images are so pervasive in our lives today

that it is hard to imagine a time when people did without

them. They’ve become an essential element in the way we

[4] communicate, the way we think. They’ve certainly

influenced every other form of art in some way.

When photography was invented in 1839, many

[7] artists were repulsed by the new phenomenon. The visual

arts of painting and sculpture had reigned for millennia. A

painting wasn’t just a reproduction — it transformed the

[10] objective reality which it portrayed into something new, a

result which contained a mysterious quality that, for lack of

a better phrase, was a part of the artist’s soul. The new

[13] invention, which reflected reality back to us through a

mechanical device, seemed cold and frightening.

People have always remembered, and tried to

[16] preserve and transmit their memories through time. History

was recorded through the written word. The wisdom of the

past was transmitted through the myth, the story, and later

[19] the epic poem, drama and novel.

I doubt if I am the only person who, while

watching an old movie, has had the morbid thought occur

[22] to him that “Everyone in the film is dead now”. Yet, they

are still on the screen, moving, laughing, dancing, just as

they did when alive.

[25] The Lumieres began to show their short films in

1895. They were a sensation. Imagine if you can the

astonishment experienced by the audiences, to see a

[28] projected moving image on a large screen. One effect was

fright. It is said that when the Lumieres showed their film of

the arrival of a train at a station, the audience jumped back

[31] from the screen as if they were going to be run over by the

oncoming train.

Internet: (adapted).

In the text,

“run over” (l.31) is the same as hit and drive over the top.