The audience had an infinite curiosity, and there was an apparently infinite supply of objects for that curiosity to batten on. It was as if they had seen nothing. Every subject becomes exotic by virtue of being filmed. The world was to be made over for their benefit, brick by brick and dog by dog. We, on the other hand, begin to feel that we have seen everything.
Life imitates movies, and movies themselves imitate other movies.
We would like to go back, and the irony is that through the machinery of movies we can enjoy the illusion of doing so. It isn't lost, it's merely lost to us, who are condemned to inhabit the other side of the screen. O'Brien, Geoffrey, The Movies Begin, Vol.