MODERN YOUTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 278, 23 November 1934, Page 8

MODERN YOUTH.

INFLUENCE OF CINEMA

SEARCH FOR AUTHORITY. NOTED JESUIT'S SURVEY. With crispncss, subtlety and penetration, Father C. C'. Martindale, worldfamous Jesuit priest, classical scholar and noted author, in an interview after liis arrival from Wellington this morning, surveyed modern tendencies in the youth movement and in literature, and the influence of the cinema on the rising generation. A brilliant and witty speaker, Father Martindale will speak at two services at St. Patrick's Cathedral 011 Sunday, and 011 Monday he will address a rally of men in the cathedral. Flo will leave Auckland on Monday night for Melbourne to attend the national Eucharistic Congress.

According to Father Martindale, without doubt the younger generation is hunting round for* some authority in mind and in morals. "They know," he said, "that Catholics claim (rightly or wrongly) to possess such an authority, both historically and philosophically guaranteed. Those, therefore, who aro thus hunting are certain sooner or later to inquire from the local Catholic group what contribution it has to make to the problem, for the average Englishman is equally determined not to accept a continuance of chaos or the tyrant State, such as he considers the Russian one to be. Some ask: Is England £oing to become Catholic in the next ten years? My answer is: Certainly not! However, the state of mind is such that the young Englishman wants something of "the state that Catholics can give, and

the problem now in England is not to persuade people against their wills that the Catholic philosophy is true—the generation of young Englishmen would not object to the Catholic philosophy because it is clear cut, nor to its moral code because it is uncompromising, for they are coming to like these two qualities. The difficulty is to find an adequate contact between these young men and women and the relatively few and scattered Catholics." Entertainment Factor. Father Martindale said that while in Wellington he lunched with the Governor-General and discussed with his Excellency the future of Flock House. He had understood Lord Bledisloe to say that hopes were entertained that the institution would be used for young men, whether from New Zealand or England, who wanted farm training. His Excel-

lency, however, had seemed to suggest that the young New Zealander was reluctant to leave the town for country life. "When I heard this," added Father Martindale, "I wondered whether it was due to an influence which operates in Englan'd, and, I feel sure, in Australia, namely, the need for a strong dose of entertainment, such as the pictures provide. "I may say," Father Martindale continued. "that I think very well of the possibilities of the cinema, and, of course, entertainment by wireless in the country areas provides a substitute to a great extent; but I would be sorry if the young generation were unable to do without mechanical excitement of that kind. You are not civilised when you need all sorts of things. The civilised man can use enjoy and do without them. Relaxation is good, but it is not all of the substance of life. Distorted Imagination.

"Innumerable girls live entirely in the cinema world. Their work and, their home seem unreal, compared with what the pictures oifer. Thus their imagination is (1) standardised, (2) distorted. Even in men emotion takes the place of thinking the thing out and making a deliberate choice about it. In Europe whole agricultural areas have been ruined because simple-minded peasants have, owing to t.hc pictures, thought that if they emigrated to U.S.A., within six months the men would be drinking champagne and the girls would be wearing pearls; whereas within two months half the men were serfs in steel works and the girls were on the streets."

Father Martindale said he had no comment to make on the repeal of prohibition in America, because he had not been in the North. However, lie smilingly said he had been assured by an American that the citizen of the United States had not yet learned" to drink in public. He still took his whisky flask up to his room. "Whether that is true or not I cannot say," he added.

With a broad smile, ha said he was delighted to be revisiting Auckland. "I have yet to see the railway line between Frankton Junction and Auckland," lif> admitted. "The first time 1 came through I was practically unconscious —that was in 1925, when I met with an accident—and this time I was fast asleep."