The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

October, 194} Page 293 The Film and International Understanding Films: An International Language The Role of Motion Pictures in Rehabilitating A War-Torn World Edited by DR. JOHN E. DUGAN Haddon Heights, New Jersey, Schools LT. SAMUEL F. HARBY, USNR Training Film Branch, Arlington, Va. Atrip around the world convinces one that coniniunication is easy if you can act out the ideas you want to convey. Languages are complicated systems of symbolism, and at best, only a substitute for the real thing. Pictures, on the other hand, are self-evident and close to reality. Show a picture of a cat to Russian, Chinaman. Englishman, or Yap and he knows instantly what it represents. Even unfamiliar objects or ideas can be represented pictorially in such a way that your meaning is clear at a glance. Pictures then—and especially motion pictures— constitute a means of convey- ing ideas which transcends lan- guage barriers. What's more important, this device is imme- diately available—i. e., ready to be used when the right mo- ment arrives as an educational tool in the rehabilitation of war-weary peoples. So much then for the medium. Now for the subject matter. World War 11 is the most savage and ruthless encroach- ment on human rights that mankind has experienced. Be- sides the wanton destruction of life and property, there has been utter disregard of the sacred institutions established to insure decency and respect among jjeoples. In all the principal nations (including our own), propaganda artists have conducted campaigns of lies and hate deliberately to distort the truth. In man}' coun- tries an insidious attempt to set up false gods, false principles, and false goals has been carried to ridiculous extremes, while unworthy methods of attaining goals were nationally advocated and popularized. The result of all this confusion can l)e nothing l)ut bitterness and chaos. When the war is over, the minds of people literally all over the globe will be twisted and warped. Unless a careful, wise, and ingenious campaign of re-education is carried out in all countries of the world, the progress of civiliza- tion will be set back a century or more—and the war will leave scars never to be outgrown or for- gotten. The most important thing to teach in this cam- Editor's Note: Will Hays, in his last an- nual report says, "Skills learned in war time will augment the educational utility of the screen. We also must take into account the fact that at the end of the war the armed forces will return to the educational institutions a large number of teachers who will have become ac- customed to teaching with films." This month's article was written by a man actively engaged in the visual train- ing program of the Navy. In view of Mr. Hays' statement, it is interesting to see what Lieutenant Harby thinks of the future use of the educational film in the field of international understanding and good will. paign of re-education is the simple truth of reality: that we are all human beings, with common inter- ests, desires, and satisfactions—regardless of lan- guage and cultural ditTerences; that our salvation lies in working together for common goals; that we can learn from each other and help each other; in short, that we are "brothers under the skin." This is the easiest kind of subject matter to han- dle, and it is perfectly adapted to visual treatment. That travel broadens and increases understand- ing has long been an international axiom. Witness the large number of exchange scholarships which have been awarded in the past to promote the cause of peace. In some instances the motion picture can do the same job, and do it more thoroughly than actual travel. Tlie film is a magic carpet on which millions of people can travel to remote corners of the earth, and into the very homes of their neighbors abroad. It can cover more ground in a shorter period of time tlian any other system of transportation ever devised; and it permits a wonderful selection of sul)ject matter. There are dangers as well as advantages in the use of such a device, and they should be recognized at the outset, for such a program of re-education as we have suggested must be realistic to be of value. Hon- esty in this field should be as important a requirement as it is in the field of science, where every man guards his reputation for accuracy as he would his life. Scientists continually check each other's work, and those who indulge in misrepresentation quickly lose professional standing. In the business of selecting subject matter there is the danger of presenting only a partial picture, and tliereby slanting the truth. But there can be no point in this, if we agree that our objective is a better understanding of peoples all over the world, for the purpose of establishing peace. Misrepresen- tation would defeat our purpose. By numerous tricks of the camera, such as animation, slow mo- tion, optical printing, and model photography, many things are put into films which cannot be seen in real life. Such devices are, of course, subject to abuse. But when used with integrity, they can amplify the truth and explain its intricacies. They