Movies are indeed limited in scope by the time element. I forget who it was who made the point some years ago, that television *ongoing* drama -- soaps, even some sitcoms -- has created a new sort of fictional/dramatic form in which a simulacrum of life can be achieved: eg, a young woman can announce her pregnancy, be seen going thru its stages, and give birth nine months later. Previously a set of compressed expository conventions had been necessary to carry the narrative. A new set of dramatic conventions had to be invented to meet the demands of this new, non-compressed, form of dramatic relation.

~M~