3D Cinema

This won't be an article where I attempt to criticise the incorrect use of 3D in movies, or how it's damaging the artistic process of film-making. Instead this will be my own perspective on the current 3D craze, and how I feel about the technology.

To be honest I can't directly criticise the effectiveness of 3D, simply because I can't see 3D at all. When I went to the first overhyped and mass marketed 3D film, Avatar, I sat there with my big stereoscopic glasses on and waited for something to jump out at me. Nothing. It was like watching a movie wearing heavy sunglasses, and absolutely no 3D.

I was curious as to whether it was a unique problem, so I began asking opticians and browsing the Internet for further information. It seems that in America alone, nearly 15% of their total population can't see 3D correctly, and a substantial number of those people can't see the 3D images at all. And you don't even need to have a previous history of eye problems to miss out on the experience of 3D.
It's down to something called binocular vision, where the brain can only process the image from one eye at a time, therefore unable to join the dual images from both eyes together to form the 3D image. It's the same as those eye puzzles you get in books sometimes, where you stare at the image long enough and you see a teacup (or something) form out of the two images. I can't see those either, as the principle is exactly the same as 3D.
Apparently, hundreds of people with no history of eye problems are discovering this condition now after failing to correctly see a 3D film. So why does hardly anyone know about this? Well the answer is simple. That 15% of US population represents the minority, and as long as the film distributors can convince the majority of viewers to invest in a more expensive 3D ticket, they don't really care.

As this condition can not be remedied, I wonder how many other people out there suffer from a simultaneous love of film and lack of 3D vision, who are also wondering if the future of cinema and home entertainment will cater for them aswell as everyone else.

Personally, I think 3D will die out once the next big technical revolution comes along in film. 3D rears its head whenever the film industry is trying to boost ticket sales and prices to compete with piracy and home markets. I genuinely hope it dies out, because for me, it's a huge change in the way entertainment is perceived that I can't experience, and I can only hope that it's just a fad that finds its niche market, and doesn't ignore us 2D viewers and leave us by the wayside.