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MOVIES AND CONDUCT portrayed a love scene in a stimulating manner, a boy or girl may feel a desire for a similar experience in real life. Here again we see the conflict of impulse with inhibition, and the frequent relaxation of ordinary controls when attacked by irresistible surges of emotion. The practical result may be a willingness to behave in a way which the individual might not have done had he or she not been emotionally prepared by the film. Often the reaction is of a very mild type — the boy may hold the hand of the girl beside him and exchange glances, and both may become more sentimental towards each other than usual. This type of reaction is characteristic of the 'calf love' of some young people and is not of a violent kind. In some girls the witnessing of romantic love pictures induces merely a vague longing for some kind of romantic adventure. In others the love scenes may produce considerable excitement, and a distinct vicarious pleasure. One girl described how she was at a cinema with a girl friend, and when the hero kissed the heroine 'we thrilled in ecstasy'. She had identified herself with the heroine, and so, when a group of rowdy boys made fun of the incident in question, she felt that it was like a personal affront. After the picture was over she allowed herself to be picked up by a boy whom she had seen and admired in the cinema. This is her account of what happened — the influence of the films can be detected in the style which she employs, as well as in the episode itself: T had known it all along, from the moment I had seen that perfect embrace in the movies; I had felt that this would happen. He had parked in lover's lane, his arms were about me, persuading. To my bewildered mind there came two thoughts; one, "Mum said 'Don't kiss the boys' "; the other, "What harm can it be? It is beautiful." So I struggled no longer; and I learned the charm which before I had only dreamed of.'
Even where the thrill derived from love pictures is entirely vicarious and does not lead to any direct action as in the above case, it is likely that the repetition of such experiences may play a big part in moulding the individual's ultimate attitudes to love situations. The vicarious enjoyment of love pictures appears to be very common among girls of high school age — 67 per cent of them admitted this type of experience, as against only 41 per cent of the boys.
When, however, we turn to the more acute forms of emotional possession by love and passion, we find that on the question of whether love pictures made them more receptive to love the proportion of boys and girls is the same. Instances of the more violent types of reaction are quoted below:
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