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    • ON: Wed Feb 27th 14:11 PM
      Commented on:
      An Amazing Graphic on Box Office Receipts
      Just to be sure I understand how this graphic works --
      1) the height of the "mountain range" in the fixed x-axis version (and the total vertical spread in the other version) indicates the total size of the movie-going audience at a particular point in time? Is this only for first-run films, or for all movies in theaters across the country, including revival showings at repertory houses?
      2) when a new film opens its graphic area starts at the apex (in the fixed x-axis version) of the areas already claimed by previously opened films? That is, we're not dealing with overlaps here -- this is a two-dimensional image, not an image in which "National Treasure" rears up majestically from the same baseline as all the other films and towers incredibly high above them. The suggestion of a mountain range and the existence of convex curves at the top of the range incline me to see the area for a film as continuing behind the films below it in the graph, but I assume this is just because of a bias toward interpreting images as representations of three-dimensional realities. Pretty, but confusing.
      3) in the variable x-axis chart, why was the shape not symmetrical horizontally? Because of the introduction of some films above and some below the center (was this done on the basis of date, or of filling in where available space was growing most quickly, or what?), the tailing off of the films toward the right is not going to provide a fixed baseline in any case, so what are the reasons for the high and low points for a given date not being in symmetry? The fine effect of the graphic suggests that it was created this way for very definite reasons, but that leaves me feeling inadequate if I cannot determine what the reason was and therefore what the chart is intended to convey. Either that, or the practical purposes of the chart have been shunted aside in favor of its appealing style.
      On the whole, though, I find this approach a positive development and will be interested in seeing how it's picked up and refined in the future.
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