The Role of Film as Visual Art

[jester710]

I have recently been introduced to the works of the Welsh filmmaker Peter Greenaway by a friend who is a big fan of his work. I find most of his stuff to be pretty baffling, and so I set out on an internet adventure to find out what I could about the guy.

His IMDB profile contains several quotes from him about the nature of film as visual art, and he seems to feel that there has been very little in the history of cinema that even begins to approach the potential of the medium. Some examples:

"I don't think we've seen any cinema yet. I think we've seen 100 years of illustrated text."

"Cinema has been dragged down by mimetic association with all the other art forms, predominantly with the 19th century novel, and because of its distribution situation and its apparent desire to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it has gone in directions which have not fulfilled those extraordinary promises, in general terms."

My question is, do you agree with this assertion? Do you think film is simply an offshoot of other artistic mediums, with little or no distinguishing characteristics? Or do you think it clearly stands on its own as a distinct, clearly defined art form with valid and important contributions?

FWIW, I think the guy's right, but I far prefer the world of cinema as it stands now to the one Greenaway would create.