iGeneration and Cinema. Genres, Spectatorship, and Mediascape

Compared to the generation of the so-called Millenials, the Post-Millennials are the first true digital natives, being exposed to smartphones and other mobile media devices from the very first days of their lives. Also known as the iGeneration (or iGen), they become at a very young age touchscreen players, multiscreen users, early prosumers and later social media followers. They show an active attitude towards media, both in a personal and heterodox way. This article open a special issue devotes to analyze Post-Millennials’ cinema experiences and practices. Although the youngest generation does not seem to go too often to the movie theatre any longer, cinema remains a point of reference in their lives. As recent surveys demonstrate, youngsters not only consume a lot of films and other moving images on multiple devices, but also produce their own audiovisual objects in a variety of forms and formats. In other words, Post-Millennials are doing what Miriam Hansen predicted: they are reimagining and reinventing cinema (Hansen, 2012).