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.
Co-operative Cinemas.
Mr. George Bernard Shaw says, “There is no reason why cinema theatres should not be added to the list of public wants provided for by the co-operative movement.” Certainly the Co-operative Society have their interests in nearly every concern going. For the instruction of their members, physically and mentally, they have made every endeavour to fill in the gaps. If their energies were also turned to the establishment of cinemas for educational purposes, including instructional and wholesome films, then co-operators will have made a forward movement.
V
COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING
Advertising by the Film.
As an advertising medium the film stands unrivalled, and, probably, in time to come, it will supplant the flaring posters so distasteful to our vision, and which disfigure and desecrate our landscapes.
Various manufacturing firms could further avail themselves of this latest product of visual exhibition. Manufacturers of gas mantles could demonstrate the whole process of the manufacture of these flimsy yet durable illuminators, from the extracting of the fibre to the finished article, the candle powers of each, and what they are used for.