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Pratt's paper contains interesting though unsystematized remarks on the psychology of the average movie-goer and the commercial techniques which try to satisfy his needs. In the fore stands the oral significance of scoptophilia: the audience wants to devour with its eyes what it sees on the screen. The 'close-up' facilitates a facial mimicry and thus identification through the eye. Concentration on unrealistic visual impressions creates a dreamlike situation. Actually there are many technical devices used to increase the similarity between moving pictures and dreams (concrete representation of abstract ideas, symbolism). Various camera techniques which let the spectators witness events in a way which would be impossible in reality, create or increase their feeling of omnipotence, giving the illusion which has at all times been essential for the theater: to be an omnipotent creator. However, Pratt is also of the opinion that too much of a feeling of omnipotence is followed by a realistic reaction. 'A gratification of scoptophilic pleasure and of omnipotence inherent in the medium is perhaps a condition under which reality is more tolerable.' Pratt thinks that recently a demand for more realistic movie plays can be observed: 'The musical is succeeded by the back-stage musical, interminable parades of glamour by the dramatic usage of the commonplace by Hitchcock. From the social hokum of Capra, the movie