The screen writer (June 1945-May 1946)

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NEW FIELDS — NEW TECHNIQUES in turn, only helps the "average" spectator to fortify his resistances to that openness and sensitivity which the film-maker hypothetically denies in him. This vicious circle takes a revenge on the film-maker by limiting his creative freedom and stifling his sources of inspiration. He bends under the weight of a so-called social responsibility and neglects that paramount creative responsibility which, if fulfilled, automatically makes the artist a constructive member of his society. There is a school of thought which regards an easy popular appeal in works of art as an imperative necessity. The apostles of popularity confuse the timeless source and intent of creativeness with the incidental timely appeal. The immediate popularity of the works of the great classical artists is due more to various incidental and relatively superficial virtues than to their profundity. While the former happens to coincide with current taste, the latter insures their immortality. In the course of the past centuries many a shallow work became popular, while many a profound work, such as Goethe's Faust, never became popular. But in the end, the level of various periods of cultural history is evaluated in terms of those works which are profound rather than those which were, at their time, popular. That is well, because a work of art, when looked at from the perspective of time, is seen to reflect, in one way or another, the trends and state of mind of its contemporary society, even though such a reflection may have been the remotest of the artist's intentions and was unrecognized by his contemporaries. Therefore, it is shortsighted on the part of society to require of an artist, whose work should be essentially timeless, consciously to appeal to temporary tastes. On the other hand, it is spiritually rewarding for the artist's fellow citizens to strive to develop their perception when confronted with art which seems dislocated and irrelevant to their daily lives. Such effort enriches, because it usually leads to unexpected revelations which clarify daily life and make intelligible many a sign on the wall. We see now that such men as Cervantes, 23