The aim of this paper is to reveal the way D.W. Griffith presents the modern market economy in his 1909 film, A Corner in Wheat. In the past, many reviews and studies have focused on the parallel montage sequence of the film. But to shed new light, I focus on the contrast between motion and stillness in the film. The ninth shot of the film, which depicts the poor people who cannot buy bread, has been a popular topic for analyses as it completely lacks motion as if it were “tableau vivant”. I compare this frame to the fourth shot where people move very quickly and wildly. This shot depicts the wheat market where the price of wheat soars as a result of the speculator’s action. This comparison reveals that (a-)motion is systematically used to represent the modem market economy. Thus to reveal the significance of this fact, I analyze the nature of the very intensive (a-)motion realized in this film. As the result, it becomes clear that no one can control the (a-)motion. This means that the film demonstrates the fact that the modem market economy is beyond control and nobody can escape the possibility of becoming a victim to capitalism.

As far as I know, image creation method of superimposing image cutouts on the others is mostly used for the purpose of combining different meanings of different images by superimposing one part, which the creator wants to be the subject, to the other to be the background. However, in such a method of image creation, if we focus on the movement, shapes or texture of the subject, instead of the meaning of it, I think I can find a new direction of image creation. Actually, I created movements, shapes or textures different from the original image by superimposing cutout materials on the others. In the process of placing the cutouts by using the duplicated images, we can create images of reality in which the same thing does not repeat itself, combined with computerized images of duplications.