The term "movies" refers to the theatrical art form known as film. It involves the recording of still images that create the illusion of motion when quickly changed. Movies were made popular during the Victorian Age and have been an integral part of popular and art culture ever since.

The illusion of motion relies on a phenomenon known as persistence of vision. It happens because the brain retains an image for a fraction of a second longer than the eye. When the image quickly changes the brain does not notice because it still has the previous retained image. The brain fills in the gaps and motion is perceived. This is the same reason why we do not notice when we blink.

The first "movie" was made by Eadweard Muybridge, who filmed the motions of a racehorse. He did this using twelve cameras and special film that registered the image very quickly. The cameras were triggered by the horse as he galloped down a racetrack. Muybridge mounted the images on a wheel and used a projection devise called a Magic Lantern to show the movie to captivated audiences.

The American movie industry starts with one of its most famous inventors, Thomas Alva Edison. Edison tried to perfect the filming process so that he could enhance the effect of one of his other inventions, the phonograph player. Edison was unsuccessful in adequately timing the sounds and images, but his tenacity resulted in the patent of the Kinetograph, a camera, and the Kinetoscope, a peephole viewer. His Kinetograph design was modified by a French inventor Louis Jean Lumiere, who made the camera portable. This not only led to their bitter rivalry, but also to the widening of the possibilities of movie making.

The end of the Victorian Age (approx. 1901) ushered in a surge of changes in the movie industry. The time period from 1908-1928 was the time of "Hollywood Production". The combination of feature films, advertisement of movie stars, and creating films in the studio created a huge demand for more movies. During this time directors like Cecil B. deMille, and actors like Charlie Chaplain became famous.

In 1928 a major change in movie production occurred, the addition of sound to movies. Prior to this time it was difficult to sync the sound with the picture, and the sound was low quality and very quiet. A technological changes offered new hope for sound. AT&T invented the first amplification systems in 1910, and the Warner Brothers used this to their advantage by creating some of the first movies with sound, or "talkies". The movie industry flourished from the 1930's to the 1950's, but then there was a lag in film popularity. Audiences began to lose interest in Hollywood gimmicks. Americans turned instead to their television as a primary source of entertainment.

The 1970's brought about a shift back to the movies. Directors like Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas had box office hits with movies like Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977). Since that time new technologies, such as computer graphics, have made movies a billion dollar industry and going to the movies a popular pastime