Hey all,
First off thank you very much for taking the time to read this.
I am writing an essay on the history of new visualization-forms, and want to focus on a path beginning with film and going over to virtual reality. Specifically, I am trying to study the reaction of people/societies at the time the first film was released (à la L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat urban legend, where the audience presumably ran to the back of the room as the train approaches because they were not accustomed to film). Analogously, how people react nowadays when wearing a virtual-reality headset.
Any paper or article that goes in that direction would be greatly appreciated. Or perhaps somebody here has personal feedback. Anything, thank you!
Scott Higgins writes a lot on this (more so with the advent of Technicolor, 3D, and digital color). He focuses more so on the aesthetics of these technological innovations. I can't find any free-to-access articles, though maybe you can.
This article by Tom Gunning will probably be helpful as well. Gunning examines early film history and argues that early film was not so much about narrative filmmaking, but more about exhibitionism--showing something. Gunning calls this the "Cinema of Attractions."