How much immersion do audiences want in our culture? Ever since Morton Heilig conceived the Sensorama , technology has progressed to the point of allowing fantasy to traverse the boundaries of reality. I have observed that many clamor over 3-D because it invites them into the world they see on screen. They see characters pop out of the curved screen, perhaps even reaching towards them. IMAX is a playground for this mentality, engulfing the audience in this fantastic illusion called entertainment. All of this is great, but to what extent will it go. Virtual reality perhaps? I believe that it may reach a point in the future when the audience will be able to walk alongside the movie's characters, and perhaps even decide the outcome of the stories they see. This may seem a bit far-fetched, maybe unrealistic, but is it?
Even if this does happen, I want to go back to question I originally asked. In my opinion, I think audiences will always want to relinquish some control to the entertainers and storytellers. Regardless of the new plateaus technology reaches in terms of immersion, audiences will always want to sit back and relax once and a while.
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