Abstract
The article raises a question of differences between how film studies and media studies understand history of film as a medium. The differences stem not only from predominantly entertainment function of film culture, but also from the institutional history of film studies versus media studies as distinct academic disciplines.
Both film and media studies need to broaden its scope to include film into larger media history: film scholars must overcome mono-medial and aesthetic perspective, while media scholars need to balance mass-communication aspects of media with entertainment and aesthetic functions. To illustrate how film history itself invites us to include cinema into larger media history, the article uses three examples: early cinema, the coming of sound film, and contemporary media industry that incorporates film as a partial platform within complex multimedia companies, products and cultural strategies.