Note on Monstrative Attractions

Between 1910 and 1919 there was a distinct and measurable change from monstrative attractions to more familiar types of narrative-driven films in Columbia. Monstrative films told simple, often well known fictions and documented or recreated current events. Common in the first decade of the twentieth-century, monstrative fictions did not try to involve the viewer in elaborate chains of cause and effect or character psychology in the way today’s feature films do. Instead, they attracted viewers through spectacular displays that seemed novel at the time (Gaudreault). Newspaper articles from The State in the 1910’s reveal the shift from the monstrative mode to the feature film. In a 1911 newspaper article, a journalist writes about “moving picture day” in Columbia, in which a filmmaker came to the city to capture footage of both sides of Main Street as well as film as many people as possible in a large crowd (Proctor). This is an example of monstrative filmmaking. Another article from The State a few months prior to the “moving picture day” listed several films being shown at the Grand Theater, including To the Aid of Stonewall Jackson, Jimmie the Detective, and In the Shadow of Vesuvius (“At the Grand”). These films were a war thriller, a comedy, and an educational film, respectively. While it is difficult to reach certain conclusions without seeing the films themselves, these examples suggest the kinds of genre-based fictions that would become the norm. The films shown at the Grand likely had more intricate and complex storylines than, for example, Jack and the Beanstalk--a well known monstrative example from 1902--as they relied on audiences to connect characters, actions, and plots within the films, rather than relying on preexisting narratives ingrained in the audience’s collective consciousness (Gaudreault). Perhaps monstrative attractions coexisted with the forebears of the feature film in 1911. Only eight years later, in 1919, Columbia’s taste in film had radically changed, according to The State. The types of films people seemed to be interested in had changed from retellings of known stories and other monstrative attractions to feature length narratives and serials with ongoing plotlines. In late May, for example, the Broadway Theatre planned to show a drama about vampires, two comedies, and a sequel to “Stolen Orders” in three serial installments. (“With the Plays and Players”). Demonstrably, filmgoers’ tastes had shifted to narratives, given that none of these films were monstrative. Notably, entire pages in the newspaper were devoted to information on film showings, and film critics are mentioned. Film critics were present in the early and monstrative days of cinema, and the presence of film critics in 1919 is indicative of the fact that people continued to recognize the artistic, critical, and intellectual value of film. The moviegoing model in Columbia simply shifted from retelling well known stories or realities to enveloping moviegoers in elaborate, fictitious narratives that served to draw them away from the real world and into the world of the film.

Proctor, A. A. "Madding Throng to Pass On Film." The State [Columbia] 7 Oct. 1911: 2. Columbia Screens. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

"At The Grand." The State [Columbia] 6 Aug. 1911: 9. Columbia Screens. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

"With the Plays and Players." The State [Columbia] 25 May 1919: 34-35. Columbia Screens. Web. 11 Feb. 2016.

Gaudreault, André. "Looking at Early Cinema in a New Light." Film and Attraction: From Kinematography to Cinema. Urbana: U of Illinois, 2011. 9-31. Print.