Well, I found it thought-provoking. I can't say I've ever thought about the format that deeply, and am impressed that you have.
Here's what resonated most with me: your link between the roll of 35mm film and memory. Your point, I think, was that the film must be developed at a later time and contains too many different frames to be fully remembered beforehand. When the roll is processed, memory is restored. I totally love this. Also, with regard to 35mm film in particular, so many of us have albums (or shoeboxes) filled with family pictures taken in 35mm film. That also powerfully connects 35mm with the larger concept of memory, or history.
I also appreciate your (metaphorical) comparison of a 35mm format picture to a word, while larger format negatives are more like a paragraph. I am aware that you purposely are talking about different and more public subjects, but if you will forgive me, I will again mention the humble genre of family pictures. My mother recently received a copy of a professional studio shot of her father and his brothers that was taken 80-90 years ago. It was interesting to look at. I focussed on how they looked, dressed and wore their hair. I tried in vain to connect the very young man in the picture to either my memory of the very old man I knew (he died about 25 years ago), or to my mother, myself and my siblings. The picture itself was a complete thought. But I couldn't really read it, to be honest. In contrast, when I look at our family's 35mm pictures, what I find is a story told by an accumulation. The very quantity of pictures of each event adds up to the story. Of, say, my daughter's first Christmas, or my childhood trip out West. There is no need for one picture to tell a whole story, and no pretense that it could. That's both a strength and a weakness of the 35mm format. But I like it, as you do.
Your comment that "35mm begs for collage" also struck me. I think that's true. I had never considered it before in exactly those terms. But I find it inspiring.
Thank you for the effort you made in this essay, and thanks for calling it to my attention. -Laura