People as a rule have no objection to being preached to in a
mild and entertaining way when they go to a picture show, but they do
object to having their feelings hurt. A man who is over-fond of drink
may sit through a play on the screen in which the evil results of
intoxication are depicted and come away filled with a determination to
reform his way of living, but the man who after paying his admission
is asked to sit through five or more reels of film almost every foot
of which is a shock to his religious or his political sensibilities
will come away filled only with the determination to avoid that
theatre in the future, if not, indeed, to eschew moving-pictures
entirely.
During 1911 and the early part of 1912 several pictures were released,
both by European and American manufacturers, which were so objected to
by Roman Catholic picture-patrons that not only were they suppressed
but the whole film-manufacturing industry was aroused and put on its
guard against producing more pictures of this kind. Here is a rule of
photoplay writing that you must not violate: Do not offend the
religious beliefs of a _single patron_ if you wish to retain the good
will of the editors and manufacturers. And have you stopped to think
how broad that statement really is? Have you taken into consideration
the many different nationalities, with their widely different creeds
and religious convictions, which see the pictures daily put upon the
market? As one critic says: "The photoplay film goes to Europe and
Australia and South Africa.
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