International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

44 THE CINEMA IN TEACHING merit of its creative faculties ; and there are examples of this that could be multiplied ad infinitum. The Cinema and It is in the field of Character. character especially that the educational cinema goes beyond the limits of the teaching film. It has a great influence on the character of children, on account of the fact that their great sensibility reacts to it without their having the adults possibility of discrimination. Emotion arouses an analogous reaction, encourages the formation of images and of the sensations aroused by a scene or an entire film. This reaction is thus connected with the phenomenon of imitation. Observe the spectators during a football match, and see how they make their muscles tense at critical moments in the game, and unconsciously follow the movements of knee and foot that the player makes or should make. This shows that emotion creates a pronounced state of receptivity, and that it also necessarily awakes imitation. Now, imitation does not confine itself to the physical and muscular parts only ; it is more especially notable in the sensory, intellectual and moral fields. Demoralizing spectacles depress the character, giving rise to impressions and ideas which will become fixed in the subconsciousness and impress an unconscious and involuntary tendency on it through the repetition of demoralizing acts and scenes. Inhibitory restraints that are the result of education or of natural instincts, will counteract these impressions, but the stronger the impression the greater difficulty they will have in counteracting it, and they may not succeed after all, and in the end may leave the field free to morbid and harmful impulses. The production and repetition of these mental processes create susceptibilities and habits which influence and form the character reacting on the conduct of life. Good habits which have been formed by a succession of previous acts and suggestions are the most powerful restraint on evil reactions. They constitute a reserve of sound, moderating concepts and ideas which can act as restraints on the worst instincts, ideas which are aroused in time to counterbalance bad impressions. In other words, they constitute a system of salutary reflexes. The individual's way of living and behaving is due to the number of ideas of this sort that he possesses and their quality. Nothing helps the acceptance of an idea so much as the pleasant, uncontroverted suggestions the child receives from the cinema. If the film is a moral one, the child's mind will be enriched with sound ideas and moral restraints on the worst instincts. The film will have a good influence on his character and conduct. It is in this way that the cinema influences the formation of character. It arouses the feelings that lie dormant in the mind ; it penetrates the mind and soul of children, who are averse to every form of written education. Some magnificent films could be made out of the old tales that have passed from generation to generation : tales of the most noble legends of humanity, stories from the Gospels, Aesop's fables, the fables of La Fontaine, etc. Possible Psychologi If the cinema is to cal Dangers of an maintain the place to Exaggerated Use of which ;t has a rigk( both teacher and pupil must be convinced that it is not to be considered as a simple entertainment, but as an aid, an explanatory means, an animated repetition of the master's lesson, just as a chemical or physical experiment completes a lesson on the theory and is frequently necessary in order to make the latter clear. If the pupil should be inclined to look upon the school cinema as an entertainment, and should compare it in his mind with the public cinema, he would soon come to the conclusion that the public variety is much more interesting and amusing, and would end by hating the school cinema. The utmost discretion must therefore be used in dealing with this aid to teaching. Illustrations may be used to enrich a classic, but a proper the Cinema in Schools.