Cinema audiences, differentiation strategies and Sociology of Culture

Abstract

The hereby article is located within the area of Sociology of Culture and consists of analyzing the development of the current tastes in the cinematographic consumption in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, based on the audience of two venues, namely: Cineteatro São Luiz (which screens a wide range of movies, including productions acclaimed by the general audience and alternative ones) and Cinema do Dragão (which screens movies apart from the mainstream circuit). In this sense, social determinants responsible for the construction of tastes and preferences for certain film productions in the aforementioned movie theaters were examined. General profiles are drawn between the audiences and their practices by the use of questionnaires. Interviews and field observations on the spot served as complementary methods for understanding the differences between audiences. From this, some aspects of the viewers were taken into consideration, such as age groups, housing and educational level. For this purpose, the theoretical basis of this work finds its general orientation in the Sociology of Culture and in the analyses on taste and consumption.

Keywords: Sociology of Culture; Movie theaters; Consumption; Distinctions.