Young America and the moving-picture show 1910

Editor: This drawing by Louis Glackens, titled "Young America and the moving-picture show" from 1910, uses pen and ink. What strikes me most is how it uses humor to show how easily innocence can be led astray, sort of from morality to spectacle. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's a fascinating cultural artifact! Glackens taps into the anxieties of the time regarding the nascent moving picture industry and its impact on children. Notice how he contrasts images of moral guidance - a signpost toward religious ideals, the Ten Commandments - with scenes from what he suggests is the inevitable result: criminality and temptation by the Devil. What is the symbolism here of these juxtaposed narratives? Editor: I guess he's saying that movies, even though entertaining, can lead people down a darker path? That simple pleasures corrupt. Curator: Precisely. The "moving-picture show" isn't just entertainment; it's presented as a slippery slope. Note how the crowd literally flows toward the theater and then, subsequently, to the “Devil’s Recruiting Station.” It’s a powerful visual metaphor of cause and effect. And "Heaven" as portrayed follows the morality plays that made a purer man Editor: It's almost like a modern morality play told through caricature. I never thought of cartoons being used to discuss ethics so openly. Curator: It reveals much about the cultural landscape of the time. The use of easily digestible images and caricatures was intended to immediately sway viewers to Glackens' point of view, bypassing complex arguments, much as those movies could persuade its viewers. Editor: Seeing the stark contrast he makes makes it quite easy to understand this complex and ongoing idea that mass entertainment is harmful, perhaps timeless in certain ways. Curator: And considering the visual echoes we still find in comic strips and narratives today, its resonance is certainly worth noting.