Transforming cinema on YouTube: An integrative review of aesthetics, commodification, and socio-economic shifts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33153/dewaruci.v20i1.6496Keywords:
Cinema Evolution, Digital Platforms, Over The Top, YouTube, Integrative ReviewAbstract
The rise of digital platforms has profoundly transformed film production and consumption, shifting cinema to internet-based media like YouTube. This development necessitates an understanding of how film aesthetics, viewing practices, and industrial structures evolve in the digital age. While prior scholarship mainly examined industrial transitions and social media’s influence, there’s a critical gap in how digital platforms, specifically YouTube, reconfigure cinematic aesthetics and ontology. This study employs a qualitative integrative literature review to examine how YouTube, as a platform, rearticulates cinema’s aesthetic dimensions and ontology. Key findings reveal three core themes: YouTube reimagines early cinematic aesthetics (e.g., short duration, spectacle) as “digital attraction” through algorithmic optimization; it operates as a modern exhibition machine, commodifying content via its interface and algorithms; and these platform-driven dynamics generate significant socio-economic implications, compelling cinematic labor into a “prosumer” model and transforming traditional film consumption into a “hyper-social non-place”. Ultimately, YouTube embodies a paradoxical hybrid cinematic environment, challenging filmmakers or content creators to balance artistic integrity with commercial demands. This study highlights the need to critically re-evaluate cinema’s evolving form and function.
Downloads
References
[1] J. Wasko and M. Erickson, The political economy of YouTube. 2009.
[2] H. Postigo, “The socio-technical architecture of digital labor: Converting play into YouTube money,” New Media Soc., vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 332–349, Feb. 2016, doi: 10.1177/1461444814541527.
[3] J. Broeren, “Digital attractions: Reloading early cinema in online video collections,” YouTube Read., pp. 154–165, 2009.
[4] C. Kessler, “Where were you when YouTube was born?,” J. Brand Manag., vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 207–210, Feb. 2007, doi: 10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550069.
[5] M. Auge, “Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity,” Translated by. 1996.
[6] P. Wollen, Signs and Meaning in the Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
[7] G. Iversen, An ocean of sound and image: YouTube in the context of supermodernity. 2009.
[8] J. van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford University Press, 2013. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199970773.001.0001
[9] C. Fuchs, Social Media: A Critical Introduction. 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2014.
[10] E. Muybridge, The human figure in motion, vol. 11. Courier Corporation, 1955.
[11] C. Musser, The emergence of cinema: The American screen to 1907, vol. 1. Univ of California Press, 1994.
[12] R. Abel, Encyclopedia of Early Cinema. Routledge, 2004. doi: 10.4324/9780203482049
[13] L. Le Prince, “Roundhay Garden Scene, Leeds, North England.” 1888.
[14] A. Iyer, “The Evolution of Film Technology: Impact on Narrative Structure and Audience Experience,” Shodh Sagar J. Lang. Arts, Cult. Film, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 19–24, 2024.
[15] P. B. Weinstein, “Movies as the Gateway to History: The History and Film Project,” Hist. Teacher, vol. 35, no. 1, p. 27, Nov. 2001, doi: 10.2307/3054508.
[16] E. Campbell, “The Sphere: Everything You Need to Know About the $2.3 Billion Event Venue,” Architectural Digest, Oct, vol. 23. 2023.
[17] R. Lobato, “The cultural logic of digital intermediaries,” Converg. Int. J. Res. into New Media Technol., vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 348–360, Aug. 2016, doi: 10.1177/1354856516641628.
[18] S. Cunningham, D. Craig, and J. Silver, “YouTube, multichannel networks and the accelerated evolution of the new screen ecology,” Converg. Int. J. Res. into New Media Technol., vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 376–391, Aug. 2016, doi: 10.1177/1354856516641620.
[19] C. Vernallis, Unruly Media: YouTube, Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema. Oxford University Press, 2013. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199766994.001.0001
[20] R. S. Vasudevan et al., “Cinema in the Age of Social Media,” BioScope South Asian Screen Stud., vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 127–130, Dec. 2023, doi: 10.1177/09749276231215876.
[21] H. Zhang and J. Wu, “From industrial movies to social media discourses: alternative social imaginaries of industry and technology in China,” Chinese J. Commun., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 410–425, Oct. 2023, doi: 10.1080/17544750.2023.2263575.
[22] J.-F. Fondevila-Gascón, P. Mir-Bernal, M. Perelló-Sobrepere, and M. Polo-López, “Interactivity in Social Media: A Comparison in the Movie Studios Sector,” 2021, pp. 43–49. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-76520-0_5
[23] L. Boxman-Shabtai, “The practice of parodying: YouTube as a hybrid field of cultural production,” Media, Cult. Soc., vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 3–20, 2019, doi: 10.1177/0163443718772180.
[24] R. Lobato, “The cultural logic of digital intermediaries,” Converg. Int. J. Res. into New Media Technol., vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 348–360, Aug. 2016, doi: 10.1177/1354856516641628.
[25] R. Whittemore and K. Knafl, “The integrative review: updated methodology,” J. Adv. Nurs., vol. 52, no. 5, pp. 546–553, Dec. 2005, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.2005.03621.x.
[26] R. J. Torraco, “Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Guidelines and Examples,” Hum. Resour. Dev. Rev., vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 356–367, Sep. 2005, doi: 10.1177/1534484305278283.
[27] D. Bordwell and K. Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction. 2001.
[28] P. Berger and T. Luckmann, “The social construction of reality,” in Social theory re-wired, Routledge, 2016, pp. 110–122.
[29] W. K. L. Dickson, “Dickson Greeting,” Edison Manufacturing Co, 1891. [Online]. Available: https://www.loc.gov/item/00694118. [Accessed: 08-Jun-2025].
[30] C. Musser, “Historiographic Method and the Study of Early Cinema,” Cine. J., vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 101–107, Sep. 2004, doi: 10.1353/cj.2004.0050.
[31] T. Elsaesser, “Constructive Instability,” or Life Things as Cinema’s Afterlife, pp. 13–31, 2008.
[32] M. Holland, “How YouTube developed into a successful platform for user-generated content,” Elon J. Undergrad. Res. Commun., vol. 7, no. 1, 2016.
[33] P. Aufderheide and P. Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright. University of Chicago Press, 2011. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226032443.001.0001
[34] T. Mulla, “Assessing the factors influencing the adoption of over-the-top streaming platforms: A literature review from 2007 to 2021,” Telemat. Informatics, vol. 69, p. 101797, Apr. 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.tele.2022.101797.
[35] Networthspot, “YouTube Movies Net Worth and Earnings,” networthspot. [Online]. Available: https://www.networthspot.com/youtube-movies-a577ba75-d8c5-4456-a2b5-9a0be4989637/net-worth. [Accessed: 10-Jun-2024].
[36] K. M. Lee, “Presence, Explicated,” Commun. Theory, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 27–50, Feb. 2004, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2885.2004.tb00302.x.
[37] N. Jurgenson, “When Atoms Meet Bits: Social Media, the Mobile Web and Augmented Revolution,” Futur. Internet, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 83–91, Jan. 2012, doi: 10.3390/fi4010083.
[38] N. Carroll and N. Carroll, “Avant-Garde Art and the Problem of Theory,” J. Aesthetic Educ., vol. 29, no. 3, p. 1, Jan. 1995, doi: 10.2307/3333533.
[39] H. Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York, NY, USA: New York Univ. Press, 2006.
[40] T. Poell, D. Nieborg, and J. van Dijck, “Platformisation,” Internet Policy Rev., vol. 8, no. 4, Nov. 2019, doi: 10.14763/2019.4.1425.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Romdhi Fatkhur Rozi, Kenneth Tze Wui Lee, L Dyah Purwita Wardani
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in Dewa Ruci: Jurnal Pengkajian dan Penciptaan Seni agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the Dewa Ruci: Jurnal Pengkajian dan Penciptaan Seni right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) the work for any purpose, even commercially with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in Dewa Ruci: Jurnal Pengkajian dan Penciptaan Seni.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in Dewa Ruci: Jurnal Pengkajian dan Penciptaan Seni.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
