GOOD OR BAD ?

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5324, 10 September 1928, Page 4

GOOD OR BAD ?

INFLUENCE OF CINEMA. VARYING POINTS OF VIEW. Whilst many hundreds .were attendj ing the various picture-houses in Wellington!, ,a small number of pe°!i)le attended ,a, meeting at Victoria University College., where the influence, of the cinema was discussed frojin various angles. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Wellington, bramsji of the Australasian. Association of Psychology and Philosophy. The points, of view itakep were the (medical, the. moral, and the; educatiojia.l, the. respective speakers; being Dr. Ada Paterson, the. Rev. Dr. Gibb, and Professor W. H. Goiuld. Speaking of the' influence O|E the cinema from the medical point of view, Dr. Ada Paterson sa.id that a weekly visit to the pictures was, part of the usual programme of most children. The medical effect could be classed under two headings: first, the direct effect on the. eyes, and, secondly, the effect o,n the body and nervous system. With regard to tire effect on the eyes, all investigations discounted any injurious effect on those with normal vision. Op this aspect she Quoted' at length from the Buibish Medical Journal, which estimated. that in each week twenty million people ip the British Isles attended the cinema. When thq effect tin bodily hea.lth was attendance at the pictures had the S;a,me. general’ effect on the health as attendance at any other imlopr entertainjment. Ch'ildreni going .to the, pictures in the afternoon lost some hours of sunlight, a,nd also opportunities of exercise, but against .that it might be. urged that at any rate: their mothers knew where they were. Dr. Ada Paterson referred to a report which suggested that pictures were “a forcing house o,f sexual precocity,” children attending at .the most impressionable age. A kind of hypnjotfc effect re>sulted from attendance at the cinema, the effect perhaps being chiefly on the sub-consciousness. In eojnclusion, said Dr. Paterson, it was impossible to question the value of .the cinema provided the type of picture: was right: in comparatively fe.w' cases the cinema might feed o,r fan,! the latent ! Spark of evil. Very frequently the cinema relieved a monotony of life, which was in its fayour. THE MORAL ASPECT. “By supercritics the cinema in most, if npt all, of its? phases is regarded as inimical to good taste atul as having .consequent moral reactions o,f an unfavourable sort,” remarked Dr. Gibb, who read a paper o ( n the moral aspect of the cinema. He added that, 'although he himself was not enamoured of the films, he did not hoifi. with -such criticism. The film might be, and he hope-d often was, a source of honest mirth, of sound instruction, and of healthy moralising. Films could render yeoman service in the cause of good morals, likenovels. “But did they ?” asked Dr. Gibb. “I have seen in Wellington some pictures even putrid. Even if you do not actually go to the pictures,, the suggestive posters a.t the cinema, door suggest the immoral pabulum within; it is n.ot hard to imagine .their pernicious effect. The pictures are cursed like the modern novel with an obsession of sex. In these days women do not wear clothes; thej r wear abbreviated oddments: in the films they’ dispense with the odd- / ments.” In, conclusion, Dr. Gibb asked what could be done tq improve, the moral tone of the films. He had been told z that although the films were bad enough, the parts that the .censor cut out were wQirse. He would! like to see the deletions more .a.mple- and some films proscribed altogether, and also the formation of a deputation, to wait upop .the Minister urging .the tighten-ing-up of the. censorship ■ in order to safeguard the morals of the young. A PEDAGOGIC DEVICE. PrQ|feSiSor> Gould said that he would confinje himself to the. consideration Qf the cinema, as a peclagogile device. Pedagogic activity could be defined as eiiriche.d experience, .and if the cinema provided this 5 t was good. Opportunities of direct experience were limited in a school, hence it was needful to fall back upon ''indirect experience, which was where -the cinema came ini But it had to be remembered that indirect experience had to befounded upon direct experience, if children -saw in a film (something o,f which they had lra,d no direct experi-; once, like, some crude sex action, they merely looked upon it as silly ; they did 'iijot necessarily carry away what the picture conveyed to the adult. The moving picture was the most real and the, mo,st meaningful experience of all, shqrt of actual participation,', and for it could be, claimed the highest place as n pedagogic device. The film had been proved to be (superior to the static lantern .slide, even if the latter was supplemented with oral teaching as a -means of instruction. Although the cinema’s claim for con-

sideration as a pedagogic device was unquestionable, it 'had its li.mitationjs. But in the, sphere cjf the natural and social sciences, .and in the. teaching of history and geography, it performed a useful function:, which was not fulfilled by any o.ther pedagogic device. There was danger, however, as there was in, the case of all noyel devices, that it might be misused and .thereby discredited. THE EVIL OVERDRAWN. During the subsequent discussion several speakers maintained that Dr. Gibb had overdi'.a.wn the, cinema evil; lie had, in fact, indicted the whole, o|f New Zealand. The cinema could not be so bad, for. if it was it would not be patronjsed .to, the extent it was. “The cinema, speaks all languages, and thus unites the. world. Long after its. detractors have parsed away the cinema will he there to, help us in our daily life,” declared another member of the audience The posters referred to were too often like the apples in a .shop window, “all the good ones o.utside.” Whether the cinema had a good or a mad moral effect, after all, largely depended on the moral calibre of the.’persons witnessing them.