Digital Archives and Collective Memory

 

Digital Archives and Collective Memory: Cinema as Preservation

Introduction

Digital Archives and Collective Memory Theory examines how cinema functions as a living archive in the digital age — preserving history, emotion, and identity across platforms and cultures.

Essence

• Films act as repositories of collective experience.

• Digital media democratizes memory — everyone becomes an archivist.

• Archival practice is both aesthetic and ethical.

Key Points

• Remediation: Digital restoration revives lost or forgotten film heritage.

• Participatory Memory: Online spaces enable users to remix, share, and reinterpret past media.

• Memory Politics: Archiving decisions reflect power, ideology, and access.

Examples

• Stories We Tell (2012, Sarah Polley) — blends home videos and testimony to reconstruct family memory.

• The Internet’s Own Boy (2014) — digital activism as documentary memory.

• Waltz with Bashir (2008) — animation as a tool for reconstructing suppressed trauma.