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In Chapter X of Münsterberg's The Photoplay (1916), what does he say conflict is, and does he say a photoplay must have it?

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Münsterberg treats conflict as common ground, not as a rule he lays down for writers: he says the photoplay and the drama 'both depend upon the conflict of interests and of acts', and that human activity without will conflict would give pleasant idyllic or romantic pictures, a lyric or epic poem on the screen or a travelogue, but 'would never shape itself into a photoplay'. By conflict he means a clash of wills between persons, expressed in moving pictures instead of speech; he contrasts the novel, which traces a character's development, with the drama, which depends on the conflict of character, and says opposing figures need independent significance of their own. He gives no test for enough conflict, and 'obstacle' does not occur in the book (0 whole-file hits). Compared with the S81 concordance, this is a necessity claim for the photoplay, stronger than the 'agrees_scoped' status S81 gave him from a content statement in Chapter VIII.

Münsterberg treats conflict as common ground, not as a rule he lays down for writers: he says the photoplay and the drama 'both depend upon the conflict of interests and of acts', and that human activity without will conflict would give pleasant idyllic or romantic pictures, a lyric or epic poem on the screen or a travelogue, but 'would never shape itself into a photoplay'. By conflict he means a clash of wills between persons, expressed in moving pictures instead of speech; he contrasts the novel, which traces a character's development, with the drama, which depends on the conflict of character, and says opposing figures need independent significance of their own. He gives no test for enough conflict, and 'obstacle' does not occur in the book (0 whole-file hits). Compared with the S81 concordance, this is a necessity claim for the photoplay, stronger than the 'agrees_scoped' status S81 gave him from a content statement in Chapter VIII. Curator qualifications: Munsterberg treats conflict as shared ground of drama and photoplay; the necessity claim is reported, not argued or tested. 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/15383/pg15383.txt",
      "note": "Ch. X L3414-3423"
    }
  ]
}

Evidence claims

  • [sourced_fact] Münsterberg treats conflict as common ground, not as a rule he lays down for writers: he says the photoplay and the drama 'both depend upon the conflict of interests and of acts', and that human activity without will conflict would give pleasant idyllic or romantic pictures, a lyric or epic poem on the screen or a travelogue, but 'would never shape itself into a photoplay'. By conflict he means a clash of wills between persons, expressed in moving pictures instead of speech; he contrasts the novel, which traces a character's development, with the drama, which depends on the conflict of character, and says opposing figures need independent significance of their own. He gives no test for enough conflict, and 'obstacle' does not occur in the book (0 whole-file hits). Compared with the S81 concordance, this is a necessity claim for the photoplay, stronger than the 'agrees_scoped' status S81 gave him from a content statement in Chapter VIII. · locator: Ch. X L3414-3423 source

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