This short piece is adapted from a lecture I gave some years ago about the way disciplines, in particular film studies, develop into departments within universities.

We need to understand that the creative act is never singular in character or in action, never clearly purposive although filled with intention.

Digital cultures are hugely democratizing because they encourage many different forms of creative output, but this does not mean that the works being produced will find a significant place in our society.

It is always a challenge to talk about culture, but in particular to offer by way of discourse something new on a subject that is as old as civilization itself.