「猥雑」の彼岸へ―「健全なる娯楽」としての映画の誕生と上海Y.M.C.A.

抄録

After cinema came to Shanghai at the end of the nineteenth century, it had been mainly exhibited at commercial amusement sites, most of which were notorious for the lack of public morals. However, during the l 910s, Shanghai Y.M.C.A.’s noncommercial film exhibitions contributed to the improvement of the cinema’s social standing and the discovery of films’ educational values.

The Y.M.C.A. exhibited films as “wholesome and healthful entertainment,” which means that the film screenings at the Y.M.C.A. were completely disconnected from the vulgarity of Shanghai’s other commercial film exhibitions. These film exhibitions can be roughly categorized into two types: as entertainment during recreation events and as visual aids for lectures. Both these types helped to prove that cinema had great usefulness, especially for social education in China.

They also allowed many young new elites in China, who considered the Y.M.C.A. as a place to develop their social skills and create human networks, to be absorbed into cinema.

The film exhibitions by the Y.M.C.A. can thus be said to have led to the awakening of China’s new film exhibition culture, which flourished during the next decade.