There is none so engrossing
or so careless of all distinctions of culture and frontiers.
The sexual motif figures hardly at all in American political imagery.
Except in certain minor ecstasies of war, in an occasional scandal, or
in phases of the racial conflict with Negroes or Asiatics, to speak of
it at all would seem far-fetched. Only in moving pictures, novels, and
some magazine fiction are industrial relations, business competition,
politics, and diplomacy tangled up with the girl and the other woman.
But the fighting motif appears at every turn. Politics is interesting
when there is a fight, or as we say, an issue. And in order to make
politics popular, issues have to be found, even when in truth and
justice, there are none,--none, in the sense that the differences of
judgment, or principle, or fact, do not call for the enlistment of
pugnacity. [Footnote: _Cf_. Frances Taylor Patterson, _Cinema
Craftsmanship_, pp. 31-32. "III. If the plot lacks suspense: 1. Add
an antagonist, 2. Add an obstacle, 3. Add a problem, 4. Emphasize one
of the questions in the minds of the spectator.,.."]
But where pugnacity is not enlisted, those of us who are not directly
involved find it hard to keep up our interest. For those who are
involved the absorption may be real enough to hold them even when no
issue is involved. They may be exercised by sheer joy in activity, or
by subtle rivalry or invention.
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