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