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— i7i
Some of the children, boys and girls alike, emphatically repudiate the suggestion of any fatigue or depression as the result of films. Some of them declare that " the cinema cannot fatigue because it opens up new and bright vistas of life ". Others add: " The cinema brings us moments of oblivion. We forget our daily life; it therefore does us good and not harm ". Others are " cheered and invigorated " by films instead of being wearied. A group of Sicilian children say that, especially when they see films acted by boys or in which the hero is a boy, they experience a feeling of moral inferiority, which, although it depresses, at the same time stimulates them through the representation of acts of heroism and manifestations of skill or intelligence. " Can boys really do such things ? " is the question they ask.
Several boys say that they are not exposed to the risk of moral harm from films, because their parents make a point of seeing the film first — which is a sensible practice.
The causes of moral fatigue, as given in the replies, are these: i. False pictures of life. The cinema, they say, is seldom an accurate representation of human life. Films are often in flagrant contradiction to the facts of every-day existence and lead the imagination to dwell upon forms of life not suited to the spectator's economic and social condition; this induces unrest and possible dangers. Films often suggest bad, amorous or licentious thoughts or, anyhow, false ideas which befuddle the mind, distract the attention from study and are beyond a schoolboy's horizon. After visiting the cinema, boys often feel at a loose end or knocked off their balance; very often, worse occurs and they want what they cannot or ought not to have.
2. A feeling of melancholy. The sense of sadness induced by films, which for some spectators is a general feeling due very often to physical fatigue, is by others traced to its sources. The feeling is experienced when the story is of a depressing kind, when the film is ultra-emotional and depicts very sad incidents, or when films, in spite of their artistic and technical merits, are unduly moving and v/hen a sad or unpleasant scene causes disgust for humanity. Nearly all the children, however, who mention this feeling of depression attribute it principally to scenes of sadness and suffering depicted in the film.
3. Closely connected with the above feeling is the state of moral depression revealed by a few of the answers. These say that psychical depression is caused by all the evil in the world that we have to see illustrated on the screen, the pictures of human crime and suffering which " imprison the soul within iron bars " " Life ", writes a sixteen-year old girl, " is not all beautiful, and this is very demoralising ". Another young girl says: " I had never been to the cinema until my parents took