Visual Education (Jan 1923-Dec 1924)

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74 Visual Education The Study of the Pictured Drama in the High School Editorial Contribution by WILLIAM C. BAGLEY FROM the Ohio State Educational Department comes an endorsement of the proposal for insuring better movies which Mr. J. W. Coffman worked out in Atlanta and which was referred to in Visual Education for November, 1922. The outstanding features of the plan are indicated in the following paragraph : < < /'"aRGANIZE in each high school a High School v>/ Better Films Committee to review and report upon motion pictures showing in your local theaters. Each week a reviewing committee from one of the English classes will visit the downtown theaters and on the following morning submit a report. Senior, junior, sophomore and freshman classes will be called upon to do this reviewing in turn. All reports before being posted on the bulletin board must be approved by one of the English teachers, thus making the review serve the double purpose of English composition and visual education." THE essential virtue of this plan lies in the fact that it is directed toward the establishment of worthy standards in the rising generation. It frankly recognizes the drawing power of the moving picture. In every community, boys and girls flock to the theaters. There is no reason to believe that purely negative or repressive influences can in any permanent way solve the problem. The solution lies rather in the improvement of the films and in turning the "movie habit" to educational account. IT is frequently said that motion-picture producers "give the people what they want," and that if public sentiment were to reject the tawdry, the spectacular and the suggestive in the pictured drama, something better would quickly be provided. If this be true (and the statement probably has a goodly measure of truth) the Ohio proposal suggests what is clearly the most promising method of lifting public sentiment to a higher plane. Through systematic effort with boys and girls, education can within a generation go a long way toward the solution of the problem. It cannot work its miracles overnight, and perhaps it is just as well — for overnight reforms are notoriously shortlived. If our recent history teaches us anything it certainly teaches that efforts to "legislate" higher Standards are fairly certain to be disappointing. THIS is not to say, however, that the proposal under discussion would not have some important immediate effects if it could be carried out on a large scale. The recognition of the pictured drama as a subject of study in the school would have in itself a salutary influence. The efforts of teachers and pupils to formulate standards might at first merely amuse some of the playwrights and producers; but pointed and drastic criticisms of palpably bad art would not go unnoticed. It is a callous conscience that is not pricked by merited rebuke from clear-eyed youth. On the other hand, the productions that won wide and consistent praise from this discriminating audience would need no better advertisement. MUCH — almost everything, in fact — will depend upon the way in which the plan is carried out. The development of "good taste" in other fields of art (literature and music, for example) has long been a recognized function of school education. The results have not always been thoroughly satisfactory, but there is no doubt that on the whole they have been positive and beneficial. There is no doubt also that teachers have profited by their mistakes and are doing better in these fields today than they have ever done before. In this new field, the lessons that they have learned in the teaching of literature and music may well be capitalized. It is one of the virtues of the Ohio proposal that it would place the study of pictured art in the hands of teachers of English, although the teachers of English will do well to counsel frequently with the teachers of art and the teachers of history. SOME interesting provisional standards for judging pictures are suggested by the Ohio authorities : "1. The theme should be fundamental to the picture and it should involve that which is of social interest in the constructive sense. Wholesomeness is a major consideration. "2. The main problem should be vital and interesting. The secondary problem should complicate, be relevant to, and build up the main problem. The solution should bring in the elements of suspense and climax. It should satisfactorily solve the minor problem and should solve completely the main problem. "3. The cast should be well chosen. The players should possess the qualities of appearance, ability, and dramatic art to interpret properly the characters they represent. "4. The photography should be good. The lighting should be properly focused. The settings should give the proper atmosphere to the story. Novel, artistic, magnificent settings should not detract from the story." THESE suggestions may well serve to get the study started. We imagine that they will be both enlarged and simplified as the work continues. Probably the analysis of the picture from the point of view of