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CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS AND THE CINEMA obvious, both during the performance of the films and in the intervals. Restlessness and boredom were expressed freely by moving about and chattering, usually during scenes of lengthy dialogue; children are very much more responsive than adults, on the whole, although there are, of course, exceptions. The child's stimulusresponse pattern works more 'instinctively', and, as his behaviour patterns are not yet so fixed as those of the adult, many things will call forth a response.
The middle years of childhood, that is the years from five to seven and eight to eleven, are the most important from the point of view of the cinema, apart from adolescents, who must be left out for the present. Very young children, according to Susan Isaacs and most modern psychologists, accept though in varying degree Piaget's stage of 'egocentrism'. Here, the child is not yet aware of his separate identity from that of the rest of the world. This means that his attitude is subjective and there is no realisation of the separate identity of other beings; his playfellows are most often used to further his own ends. 'Clashes with other phantasies provide the first step in social development' (Susan Isaacs). This development continues throughout the middle years, combined with a lessening of earlier emotional intensity as these clashes continue and begin to be accepted. More independence is achieved, coupled with a greater reserve and more open hostility to adults as contemporaries. The child becomes a member of a group, which gives him greater security and makes him easier to live with.
The child during these years, then, is learning — 'growing up'. But he is still a child, with the child's quick emotional responses, his sensitivity to impressions, his aggressiveness, his love of adventure due to a rich phantasy life expressing itself in play, and to his seeking and absorbing new impressions.
The attractions of the cinema for children can be said to be due to several factors. There is the pleasure taken in group-activity, due to a feeling of unity, of pleasure enjoyed in the company of others; Fleming deals with this aspect in The Social Psychology of Education. Dr. Miller, at the Conference on Children's Films at the British Film Institute in 1936, puts forward the view that certain situations presented in films, such as triumph of right over wrong and the punishment of the criminal, satisfy the child's aggressive tendencies.
He also stresses the importance of the child's identifying himself with the doer of heroic things: 'The imaginative or phantasy life of the child is largely occupied with the identification of the child
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