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The Art of the Moving Picture

by Vachel LINDSAY (1879 - 1931)

CHAPTER V - THE PICTURE OF CROWD SPLENDOR

"This 1922 book by poet and sometime cultural critic Vachel Lindsay might have been the first to treat the then-new medium of moving pictures as an art form, one that was potentially as rich, complex, mysterious as far older ones, and whose physical and aesthetic properties were only starting to be understood. The highlight of the book might be “The Motion Picture of Fairy Splendor,” which examines the relationship between film storytelling, magic, myths, legends and bedtime stories. It’s discombobulating, in a good way, to read Lindsay’s attempts to grapple with what, precisely, cinema is. Being supposedly sophisticated 21st century people, we all feel as though we know what cinema is, and don’t need to have the basics explained to us, but this is really just vanity and ignorance talking. Bottom line: You haven’t really, seriously thought about movies — what they are, and what they can and cannot do, and become — until you’ve read this book." (Salon.com)

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Listen next episodes of The Art of the Moving Picture:
BOOK III. MORE PERSONAL SPECULATIONS AND AFTERTHOUGHTS NOT BROUGHT FORWARD SO DOGMATICALLY / CHAPTER XIV - THE ORCHESTRA, CONVERSATION, AND THE CENSORSHIP , CHAPTER IX - PAINTING-IN-MOTION , CHAPTER VI - PATRIOTIC SPLENDOR , CHAPTER VII - RELIGIOUS SPLENDOR , CHAPTER VIII - SCULPTURE-IN-MOTION , CHAPTER X - FURNITURE, TRAPPINGS, AND INVENTIONS IN MOTION , CHAPTER XI - ARCHITECTURE-IN-MOTION , CHAPTER XII - THIRTY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE PHOTOPLAYS AND THE STAGE , CHAPTER XIII - HIEROGLYPHICS , CHAPTER XIX - ON COMING FORTH BY DAY , CHAPTER XV - THE SUBSTITUTE FOR THE SALOON , CHAPTER XVI - CALIFORNIA AND AMERICA , CHAPTER XVII - PROGRESS AND ENDOWMENT , CHAPTER XVIII - ARCHITECTS AS CRUSADERS , CHAPTER XX - THE PROPHET-WIZARD , CHAPTER XXI - THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD