ABSTRACT
Moving pictures were like the nation itself—fresh and modern, unencumbered by the aristocratic and decadent culture of Europe. The medium's status as the American art form was due largely to its universal popularity, which inspired Vachel Lindsay and many others to refer to the movies as a democratic art. The debate about the cultural status of moving pictures often revolved around categories of distinction that have come to be described in terms of a high/low cultural divide. The act of criticism provided a weapon—as either a complement or an alternative to censorship—for those united in fear of the power of film exhibitors and producers who were guided only by profit. Film theory provided a road map to movies as art by establishing the aesthetic criteria by which the moving picture could be judged. Lindsay appealed to cultural nationalism in a bid to overcome the widespread reluctance among the American public to support the arts.
