9. What Kind of Art Is the Cinema of Interactions?

Abstract

“What kind of art is the cinema of interactions?” This title promotes the concept of interaction; the intention is therefore to analyze “a work that presents itself as openly interactive: Bandersnatch” (2018), a part of the science-fiction anthology series Black Mirror. With the help of Goodman and Genette, François Jost develops two major concepts previously coined by the former – autography and allography – to help answer the question as to whether the opposition between film and TV series has to do with differences in artistic quality, a debate exacerbated by Netflix’s candidacy at film festivals. Using also a comparison with music partitions, Jost wonders whether the viewer of the interactive work may be called an operator, performer, player, or interpreter.