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THE ADULT AND THE CINEMA
In addition, we kept a selected group of people whose lives and social circumstances were intimately known to us under constant observation. We sent them to see specific films and recorded their reactions and impressions.
Thus considerable material was collected. Yet I resist the temptation to publish this material or some parts of it, for several reasons.
First, I believe an investigation of this kind presupposes a thorough understanding of the psychological and sociological mechanisms of film reactions. Second, however considerable or weighty our material may have been, we were not able to cover wide enough regions in order to be sure that the material obtained was really representative. Third, while the investigations proceeded, we were never certain how long we were to be allowed to work with the given facilities. We had first agreed with Mr. Rank to work for a trial period of four months. After they had elapsed, we were granted another six months to continue our work. Before this half-year had passed, the technical and financial facilities were withdrawn as the investigations were thought to be of cno practical use to the film industry'.
Naturally, I anticipated such a decision. Five months before Mr. Rank decided to stop our work as far as his theatres were concerned, I had approached the Editor of The Picturegoer who very kindly allowed me to use his paper in order to obtain film-reaction material.
From the beginning of our investigations I was convinced that a quantitative and purely statistical method would not produce any satisfactory results. A study of Professor Blumer's book, which has been discussed on preceding pages of this book, confirmed my conviction that only a method of case studies might be able to provide us with reliable patterns for a sociological appraisal of film reactions.
Moreover, before I had accepted any financial support for this investigation from the film industry, I had looked out and searched for psychological literature which might give us help and guidance in our work.
This search was disappointing, as our contemporary psychologists and social scientists appear to have neglected the cinema to an extent for which I have no explanation to offer.
Only from two psychologists have I received much help and encouragement. The majority of our contemporary psychologists pay hardly any attention to the cinema. When they do, they confine themselves to generalities. Take, for example, Jung, who in his book
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