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MOVIES AND CONDUCT
Fear and Terror inspired by Films
The next four sections of Professor Blumer's book deal with different aspects of one type of experience which he calls 'Emotional Possession'. This condition, which is well-known to students of behaviour, results when feelings which are usually restrained are stimulated to such an extent that the individual undergoes some diminution of his power of self-control and behaves in a manner which is a departure from his normal conduct. Such a state can be induced by intense absorption in a film: the mind becomes so obsessed with what it perceives that for the time being it is swayed by impulses and emotional currents which it would ordinarily be able to master. The experience is usually a temporary one, but in certain cases it may leave an indelible impression. This is perhaps particularly true of emotional possession by fear, which we shall now consider.
Judging from the accounts collected by Professor Blumer, it is a very common occurrence for young people to be frightened or horrified by certain types of films or episodes from films. Children are particularly susceptible to this kind of reaction, but it is not unusual in adolescents and adults. Nor should one assume that these experiences are only to be found among American film audiences. Fright, horror, nightmares cause serious psychological maladjustments in a considerable number of British filmgoers too, as will become evident in a following chapter of this book and particularly in Vol. Ill of this series. It seems imperative to us that children or boys and girls under fifteen or perhaps fourteen should be forbidden to see 'A' films at all, whether accompanied by adults or not. In addition, the censorial practice of The British Board of Film Censors needs the most searching scientific investigation with regard to its competence in estimating the effects of films on people as a whole. The effect on the child varies from an instinctive covering of the eyes to nightmares and even to quite serious emotional disturbances. It happens sometimes that a young child is alarmed when it first sees a motion picture, even when the subject of the picture is not of a terrifying nature: this is due to the strangeness of the film medium, with its amazing power of persuading the spectator that what he sees is actually taking place. An adult may consciously surrender to this persuasion, while yet retaining a greater or lesser degree of intellectual or aesthetic detachment; but for the very young child who has had no explanation of how the cinema works, the experience is apt to be disconcerting.
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