This article is part of our continuing Fast Forward series, which examines technological, economic, social and cultural shifts that happen as businesses evolve.

If you’re over the age of 25, TikTok will make you feel about 100. The enormously popular Chinese social media video app is a colossal repository of viral comedy, virtuoso dance routines, daredevil stunts and talent-show theatrics, most of which seem to be performed by precocious teens.

But also, TikTok has developed an interesting relationship to the movies. People are using the app to engage with cinema in a variety of ways, from simple homage to astute commentary. On TikTok, a movie may be viciously parodied or recreated in fervid tribute; it may be mocked, riffed on or playfully remixed. Because the platform allows users to upload or work with prerecorded sounds, including popular songs and movie dialogue, it’s easy to re-enact scenes from films or use their soundtracks creatively.

What was once the domain of the film essayist — made famous by artists such as Jean-Luc Godard , who mashed up movie clips with critical narration in his seminal “Histoire(s) du Cinéma” — can now be done in a few minutes by a teenager with a smartphone.