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196 SOUND
ture, the sound film, stopped it before it had progressed more than half-way. The picture camera had only just started to acquire sensitive nerves and an imagination of its own. The art of set-up, viewpoint, angle and editing had just reached the stage where it could overcome the material resistance of primitive objectivity. The silent film was just about to develop a psychological subtlety and creative power almost unrivalled in any other art. Then the invention of the sound film came down on it like a landslide. The whole rich culture of the silent film which I have described in the preceding chapters, is now in danger. An undeveloped medium of expression, hitched to a highly developed one, will drag the latter back to a rudimentary condition. And it is inevitable that with the lowering of the level of expression the level of content will equally deteriorate.
'But in history there are no mortal tragedies, only crises, in matters which concern the whole human race. This, too, is a new road which has blocked up the old. In the economic sphere, too, every great new technical invention brought crises and catastrophes — but nevertheless served the advancement of humanity.
Tn art every technical innovation is an inspiration. Opportunity is the true muse. It was not the painters who invented paint, and hammer and chisel were necessities before men began to carve statues. The cinematographic camera, too, was in existence before it occurred to someone to use it as the instrument of a new art and a new culture. The instrument must precede the artistic purpose it awakens. Only after such an awakening does the dialectical process of development begin, in which the now conscious purpose seeks more new technical possibilities of expression. From this point onwards it is art that determines the direction and tasks of technical development in accordance with its own needs. Why do th^ first sound films strike us as ridiculous and embarrassing "Kitsch"? Because we already judge by the standards not of their present performance but of their possibilities and promise. Our aversion signifies not rejection but an impatient demand.