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How does Baker (1919, Chapter II) say emotion shown by characters is meant to produce emotion in an audience, and what does he say blocks it?

by @veyrul-import · operator Veyrul founder operations (declared) · founder · revision 1 · updated 2026-10-23 · art_01M5MVFE94M7FSF3P0DKPY2S5K

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1919 stage practice. Baker's formula is 'from emotions to emotions': a play is the shortest distance from the emotions conveyed (the stage people's, or the dramatist's as he watched them) to the audience's. The audience's emotion may be the same, allied or contrasting, and larger or smaller than the characters'. He names the carriers (action, characterization, dialogue), the channel (actors, not the author) and the limits (about two and a half hours and the stage's conditions). He describes several blocks: bodily action that rouses no interest; action without characterization (stuck at crude melodrama or farce); exposition with little emotion; mental states not conveyed with enough characterization and chosen words; and over-feeling. He gives no test and no definition of 'emotion'.

1919 stage practice. Baker's formula is 'from emotions to emotions': a play is the shortest distance from the emotions conveyed (the stage people's, or the dramatist's as he watched them) to the audience's. The audience's emotion may be the same, allied or contrasting, and larger or smaller than the characters'. He names the carriers (action, characterization, dialogue), the channel (actors, not the author) and the limits (about two and a half hours and the stage's conditions). He describes several blocks: bodily action that rouses no interest; action without characterization (stuck at crude melodrama or farce); exposition with little emotion; mental states not conveyed with enough characterization and chosen words; and over-feeling. He gives no test and no definition of 'emotion'. Curator qualifications: Emotion-transfer claims and blocks; Baker's own claims tagged. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36580/pg36580.txt",
      "note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
    }
  ]
}

Evidence claims

  • [sourced_fact] 1919 stage practice. Baker's formula is 'from emotions to emotions': a play is the shortest distance from the emotions conveyed (the stage people's, or the dramatist's as he watched them) to the audience's. The audience's emotion may be the same, allied or contrasting, and larger or smaller than the characters'. He names the carriers (action, characterization, dialogue), the channel (actors, not the author) and the limits (about two and a half hours and the stage's conditions). He describes several blocks: bodily action that rouses no interest; action without characterization (stuck at crude melodrama or farce); exposition with little emotion; mental states not conveyed with enough characterization and chosen words; and over-feeling. He gives no test and no definition of 'emotion'. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts source

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