Who or What Is the Film Bro: On Letterboxd, Subcultural Capital and Male Omniscience in Contemporary Film Criticism
The contribution examines contemporary digital cinephilia through an analysis of the film bro internet phenomenon on the Letterboxd platform. Drawing on classical theories of cinephilia as well as concepts of cultural capital, performativity and digital subjectivity, it reflects on how new forms of cultural authority are established within the platform environment. The contribution’s central thesis is that the film bro does not represent a new type of cinephile; rather, it reveals that cinephilia has historically been marked by regimes of male cultural legitimacy. Digital platforms do not eliminate these relations but instead transform them into publicly visible and performative practices that are subject to ironisation.
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