CHAPTER VIII

THE MEANS OF THE VARIOUS ARTS

We have sought the aim which underlies all artistic creation and were led in this search to paths which seem far away from our special problem, the art of the photoplay.  Yet we have steadily come nearer to it.  We had to go the longer way because there can be no other method to reach a decision concerning the esthetic value and significance of the photoplay.  We must clearly see what art in general aims at if we want to recognize the relative standing of the film art and the art of the theater.  If we superficially accept the popular idea that the value of the photoplay is to be measured by the nearness with which it approaches the standards of the real theater and that the task of the theater is to imitate life as closely as possible, the esthetic condemnation of the photoplay is necessary.  The pictures on the screen then stand far behind the actual playing on the stage in every respect.  But if we find that the aim of art, including the dramatic art, is not to imitate life but to reset it in a way which is totally different from reality, then an entirely new perspective is opened.  The dramatic way may then be only one of the artistic possibilities.  The kinematoscopic way may be another, which may have entirely different methods and yet may be just as valuable and esthetically pure as the art of the theater.  The drama and the photoplay may serve the purpose of art with equal sincerity and perfection and may reach the same goal with sharply contrasting means.  Our next step, which brings us directly to the threshold of the photoplayhouse, is, accordingly, to study the difference of the various methods which the different arts use for their common purpose.  What characterizes a particular art as such?  When we have recognized the special traits of the traditional arts we shall be better prepared to ask whether the methods of the photoplay do not characterize this film creation also as a full-fledged art, cooerdinated with the older forms of beauty.

We saw that the aim of every art is to isolate some object of experience in nature or social life in such a way that it becomes complete in itself, and satisfies by itself every demand which it awakens.  If every desire which it stimulates is completely fulfilled by its own parts, that is, if it is a complete harmony, we, the spectators, the listeners, the readers, are perfectly satisfied, and this complete satisfaction is the characteristic esthetic joy.  The first demand which is involved in this characterization of art is that the offering of the artist shall really awaken interests, as only a constant stirring up of desires together with their constant fulfillment keeps the flame of esthetic enjoyment alive.  When nothing stirs us, when nothing interests us, we are in a state of indifference outside the realm of art.  This also separates the esthetic pleasure from the ordinary