james duffy wrote:
The obvious solution is to apply the same approach as
we do with British
English and American English. Accept the form used by whoever writes the
article.
The problem is that disambiguation in article titles pushes us
strongly in the direction of a convention.
In the text of articles, to be sure, there's no reason to prefer one
over the other, and in fact, a respect for the nuances of language
suggests that no a priori rule is likely to capture the richness of
what someone is trying to express.
But for article titles, consistency is more important.
As to the reference to 'movie' bring used to
describe Hollywood
blockbusters, that is done tongue in cheek by many Europeans to
contrast big budget Hollywood blockbusters to arthouse films or film
noir.
This usage is common in the U.S. as well. The word 'film' is often
used tongue in cheek to contrast solid entertainment with pretentious
European dreck masquerading as art. So... you know... I guess
international word choice doesn't diverge as much as you might think.
:-)
I tend to agree with the choice of 'film', but not for the reasons
that you outline. I think it's really silly to think that
non-Americans are offended by the use of the word, or, if they are,
they need to relax. A lot. And not pretend that Americans are
humorless! :-)
But 'film' is more formal, and formality is good in an encyclopedia,
so I lean in that direction anyway.
--Jimbo