The phrase “Movies are the 8th Art” comes from the idea of ranking cinema within the history of the arts.
1. Origin of the Phrase
- The expression “Seventh Art” (“Septième Art”) was coined in 1911 by Italian film theoretician Ricciotto Canudo.
- In his manifesto The Birth of the Sixth Art and later The Seventh Art, he described cinema as a new synthesis that united space arts (like architecture, sculpture, painting) and time arts (like music, dance, poetry).
- According to his classification, cinema was the 7th art.
2. The Classic Six Arts Before Cinema
Traditionally, the “fine arts” were categorized as:
- Architecture
- Sculpture
- Painting
- Music
- Poetry (later expanded to include literature)
- Dance
Cinema (film) became the 7th art because it fused movement, storytelling, sound, and visual imagery.
3. Why Sometimes Called the 8th Art
Over time, with new technologies and forms of expression, people have extended the classification:
- Comics (bandes dessinées) are sometimes called the 9th art (especially in French culture).
- Television or video games are sometimes labeled the 8th art instead of cinema.
So when you hear “Movies are the 8th Art,” it usually comes from:
- A cultural shift in numbering (some traditions place theater or photography as the 7th art, making cinema the 8th).
- Or from people outside of Canudo’s original framework, simply ranking cinema after the classical seven arts.
✅ In short:
- Strictly speaking, movies are the 7th art (Canudo, 1911).
- They’re sometimes called the 8th art when another medium (like photography or comics) gets inserted earlier in the order.
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