This short little clip is fascinating on so many levels.
First, what is my reaction to watching the snippet?
My tendency is to look back at this through the lens of 120 years of history. The conclusion, by modern "standards" and looking back through those lens, the clip is outdated and the joke elementary. It's trite, cute, and not as sophisticated as the product we demand for today.
Of course this always leads me to a second consideration, wondering what the reaction might have been for first time viewers? And this is where the richness of this clip comes in at full display.
What was it like for all those people watching these moving images for the first time? What did they think? What was it like for them to sit in a darkened room filled with friends and strangers watching these images flicker and unfold on a screen?
Walter Lippmann (1889-1974), political commentator, wrote of his fascination of the "mesmerized" audiences he encountered in the motion picture theaters and how they "breathlessly awaited" the outcome of what they watched. While the new moving picture technology was truly a sight to behold, Lippmann was more fascinated in the effects the viewing experience had on the public and used his influence to persuade movers and shakers to use the new technology towards that end.
So while "The Sprinkler Sprinkled" seems primitive and ineffectual to our visually oversaturated world, when one considers where we've come from, one can't help but walk away with an abundance of appreciation for film and comedy beyond the realm of nostalgia.
That is, if we attempt to look at them anew.
