The Film and the Savage.
One would hardly think that the film has reached and is being used in some of the remotest corners of the globe, yet such is the case. The advance made in this direction of the education of these savages by means of the film has been a source of help to the missionaries. These natives, quick-witted, are apt to learn far quicker from motion pictures than from personal instruction. The effects are sometimes very humorous, imitation is often indulged in, and bobbed hair and short skirts have created such an impression that the fashion prevails as far away as Jamaica. The black belle “bobs” her hair and even covers her skin with a pearl powder overlaid with rouge and a peculiar dark red in imitation of her Western sister.
She tucks in her print skirt, and if she is accustomed to going barefooted during the week, on Sunday she will appear in vivid silk stockings. She wears a hat woven by herself, with a twisted impressionistic scarf such as the heroine in a screen play wears when she sallies forth to meet her hero. It is contended that there is already a marked improvement in the manners and customs, which schools have not been able to bring about.
There is ample scope for pioneer work amongst these dusky brethren, and the projector would go a long way towards attaining this end.