Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

REEL and SLIDE 13 The Motion Picture's Influence on Child Development Eastern Educator Points Out Certain Evils and Benefits of Visualization Before Children Interesting Analyses of Effect of Sensational Photodramas and Film Stories of Crime By Lawrence A. Averill, ( State Normal School, Worcester, Mass.) (Reprinted from the Educational Review, by permission of Educational Review Pub. Co.) PART II THEN, too, besides the women's societies, the efforts of educational clubs and unions of The National Juvenile Moving Picture Board, of the Y. M. C. A. and the Boys' Club, and of various other local philanthropic organizations are often concerted to provide weekly or semi-weekly children's programs in private halls or in theaters leased for the occasion. Thus, the Educational and Industrial Union of Boston has for several years conducted such juvenile moving pictures with a deficit which runs each year into the thousands of dollars. The other line of effort in this direction was referred to in the excerpt from the letter of the Secretary of the Board of Censors, quoted above. The idea is to induce picture theater managers themselves to offer weekly performances of carefullyselected films especially for children. Various theaters in some 200 of our larger cities have, through the encouragement of the censors, been persuaded to arrange such weekly or semi-weekly programs, with very gratifying results. Friday afternoons and Saturday mrnings are the usual times for the special juvenile performances. Such an arrangement does not in any way interfere with the huge crowds of adults who attend the theaters Saturday afternoon or evening and who demand more sensational film than would be suited to school boys and girls. So great are the requisitions already for good juvenile film that some fifteen of the leading film manufacturers have requested the National Juvenile Moving Picture Board to supply them with lists of stories suitable for filming for a juvenile audience. Through its film librarian the Board is gladly cooperating in this good work. Rules of the Committee In this connection it is interesting to note the excellent stand taken by the National Board of Review with reference to the selection of films suitable for children. The Board's Committee on Films for Young People has recently issued a pamphlet entitled, "Principles Governing the Selection of Motion Pictures for Young People Under Sixteen." The writer has often heard the question asked as to what these principles are. The National Board has very kindly placed in his hands their version of the answer, with which, needless to say, one can not but be in hearty accord. The principles outlined in the pamphlet are based upon answers received from a questionnaire which was sent out to teachers, journalists, dramatists, social workers, sociologists, Sunday-school experts, clergymen, students of childhood and others throughout the United States. The scope of this article will not permit of a more complete analysis of the principles by which the committee is guided than a mere enumeration of them. The committee insists, then : 1. That all sex and crime scenes be eliminated. 2. That criminals, hangings, drug fiends, perverts, sensualists, drunkards, feeble-minded, brutes, insane and diseased be never shown "unless there is some rational explanation of the exhibition." 3. That gambling, assaults and murders be handled with extreme care. 4. That no criminal or unlawful action against the person be permitted. 5. That the use of weapons, whether for offense or defense, be not exploited. 6. That no scene in which the sanctity of marriage is in any way compromised be tolerated. 7. That expressions of affection be approved only when perfectly natural and normal, and that indiscriminate love-making be absolutely tabooed from all children's films. 8. That the costumes be always simple and plain, and never be worn avowedly for effect. 9. That cruelty to people, animals or insects be not countenanced. 10. That no religious sect or creed be openly or overtly belittled. 11. That underworld scenes be usually discountenanced. 12. That drinking be not needlessly brought to the foreground. 13. That comedy be required to be clean and wholesome, never low and coarse. 14. That gruesome incidents or death scenes be not shown. 15. That the respect due officers of the law be not violated. 16. That no film involving racial or class prejudices be approved. 17. That wrong-doing of children be never encouraged as material for juvenile film. There are certain other requirements which the Committee makes with reference to a film that is to be approved for juvenile entertainment. Those given above, however, ought to be sufficient to demonstrate to us the high ideals by which the National Board of Review is apparently guided. What it does approve without hesitation are good, clean dramas of action, of adventure, of the chase and pursuit, of cowboy life and deeds, of Indians and their ways, of animal life and haunts, of historic scenes, of myth, of saga, of fairyland, of foreign peoples and customs — always with the moral of the ultimate downfall of evil and the ultimate elevation of the good, not ostentatiously and forcibly pointed, but as a perfectly natural and rational development of the theme. The position of the Committee is made still more clear by the statements contained in the following excerpt from the pamphlet referred to above : * * * * Children's minds are selective as well as intensively active. They are quick to note details and later consider them. They ponder over many diverse questions without much selection. They are open to emotional appeals, both uplifting and degrading. They are continually building the bulwarks of life without much comprehension of their significance. Their imaginations are at work night and day. These function in somewhat different directions for both boys and girls Both are peculiarly open to ideas and to appeals arousing sex instincts and thoughts. They dwell on incidents which may be inspiring, emotional, gruesome, revolting and shocking, often to the exclusion of larger ideas which command the attention of adults. Striking scenes and personalities, either noble or degraded, arrest them. They are hero worshippers. They set aside situations hinted at and dwell upon them during their leisure moments. Indeed, for periods of time, they abandon themselves to dreams of joy, pain, historic endeavor or mysterious hidden things. Since ideas throng upon them without selection, and since the trivial, the secondary, and the implied possess them to the exclusion of the main theme or story, it is essential to analyze moving pictures in detail as well as a whole." Urges Home Influence on Theaters As to the sort of film which children prefer, the Committee reports thus : "Children prefer entertaining rather than strictly educational pictures. In most cities and towns, more than a majority attend motion picture plays frequently. The percentage is given as low as sixty-five per cent and as high as eighty-seven per cent. The younger boys and girls choose first stories of action, including those presenting wild west, thrill, adventure, detectives and sailors. Second, comedy, with a leaning toward the boisterous. Then, war, drama, historical and educational films. There is a slight increase in scenic, scientific and nature pictures as the age of sixteen is approached. This well-defined and -universal desire is not wrong and deserves to be gratified with wholesome pictures. It is understood that the emphasis in the selection of pictures for boys and girls, both those under twelve and those between twelve and sixteen, shall be placed on themes, situations and details which are positive, helpful, constructive and inspiring. The pictures included on such programs should be, in a broad sense, educational. This does not mean, however, that they shall deal only with historic, scenic, scientific and nature subjects. The program should be as wide in its reach and scope as that for adults. It should be selected with the understanding of the child's world, and child view of life, and those motives and ideals which will mould their instincts and thoughts." Yet the problem is far from being solved here. With the best selection of films for juveniles, and with regular weekly performances for them, there will still remain a considerable number of young people who will always be found scattered thickly through the audience of most moving picture houses after the day's school session is over. The author is more and more inclined to the opinion that the ultimate stamp of approval or of disapproval of this form of juvenile amusement — as indeed of every other form — must be given by the home. In other words, if we are ever to be assured that what the child sees upon the screen will be at least harmless, we must first institute a cam(Continued on page 16)