The art of sound pictures (1930)

WHAT PEOPLE WANT 17 or the circumstances in such a way that, while retaining an active interest, the spectators will wish to be rid of the disagreeable feelings thereby aroused. They must feel active antagonism. They must want to compel the characters in the unpleasant situation to change their behavior in such a way as to create a pleasant feeling in the spectators. A word on a peculiarity of public taste which is far too intricate to get its due attention in this book. We refer to the changes in likes and dislikes from week to week, from season to season, as a result of people growing weary of the good things they have been getting or of the unpleasant things which have been vexing them. Here is the trickiest of all psychological tendencies: that variety which is the spice of life. Nobody has ever analyzed it to its core. We must approach this question from two angles. First we must take the psychologist’s usual point of view and inquire into people’s responses to given stimuli when they are in condition to react to these alone. We must proceed as an oculist does when he tests your eyes. To ascertain how well or ill you see, he must inspect and measure your eyes when they are in a condition of rest. If you have just been staring into the sun, or reading a book of fine print for hours, or recovering from some disease which has affected your eyes, he cannot do much for you. He will ask you to sit in a dark room for a while, or to come back after the effects of the disease have worn off. In a word, he must wait until strong aftereffects of earlier stimuli have worn off. So, too, in measuring emotional responses to motion