CHAPTER III
EYE TESTS FOR BEAUTY
Do the movies hurt your eyes? Some say "yes" and
some say "no." Why is it that photoplay scenes sometimes
flash and dazzle, but have neither radiance nor
sparkle? Why is it that the motions sometimes shown
on the screen get "on your nerves"? Why is it that
you look at so much on the screen and remember so
little? These questions can be answered by making
certain eye tests for beauty, and, having answered
them, we may proceed to a detailed discussion of pictorial
composition in a great variety of cases.
In order to understand how the pleasure of pictorial beauty comes to a spectator, we must analyze the processes of looking and seeing. These processes consist partly of eye-work and partly of brain-work. That is, the physical eye must do certain work before the brain gets the visual image. Now if the physical eye has to work too hard, or bear a sudden strain, or undergo excessive wear, it will not function well; and, consequently, the brain will have to work harder in order to grasp the picture. All this causes displeasure, and displeasure is in conflict with beauty.
Let us state, once for all, that motion pictures need never hurt the eyes—quite the contrary. Yet we have
