This week, e-flux Film Notes pays tribute to French philosopher Edgar Morin (1921–2026), who passed away on May 29, by revisiting a chapter from his 1956 book *The Cinema, or The Imaginary Man*. The excerpt, titled "Metamorphosis of the Cinematograph into Cinema," explores how early cinematic tricks—pioneered by Georges Méliès—transformed the cinematograph from a mere recording device into a medium of enchantment and magical vision. Morin draws parallels between cinema and archaic magical thinking, arguing that technical reproduction becomes entangled with the fantastic, the double, and the imaginary, ultimately revealing cinema as a modern apparatus for reanimating ancient structures of belief.
This reflection matters because it positions cinema—and by extension, all moving-image art—within a broader anthropological and philosophical framework, challenging the notion that technology is purely rational or disenchanted. Morin’s ideas remain influential for contemporary artists, filmmakers, and theorists who examine how images shape consciousness, memory, and collective imagination. By returning to this foundational text, e-flux underscores the enduring relevance of Morin’s thought in an era dominated by digital imagery and virtual realities, where the boundaries between the real and the magical continue to blur.