MOTION PICTURES.

Grey River Argus, 18 July 1922, Page 3

MOTION PICTURES.

THEIR INFLUENCE ON PEOPLE. The cinema has a. very great influence. It is more universal than the stage: it attracts bigger audiences, and its favourite's perform at many different theatres at the same time. There is no doubt therefore that, if it can be used for propaganda purposes, it may be expected to be very useful to the ideal for the propagation of which it is designed (writes G. E. Fussell in London ‘ ‘Justice ’ ’). The power of prestige suggestion is dependent upon what- in the present state of knowledge seems to be an almost innate requirement of the human mind. Each one of us desires to look up to some hero, to admire someone who is the embodiment of our ideal conceptions, and that is perhaps half the reason for tin* wonders of religion; but it is certain that it is more than half the reason for thi* grades of society—all of which are not by any means dependent on the possession of monev.

t . Prestige Suggestion. 3- The use of prestige suggestion if e thoroughly understood by all parents o Through it they drive the child alone n the path they wish it to follow, am! it is only when a wider experience en •. I aides the child to form a judgment oi the parents’ dicta that their prestige begins to fail. The child, having movI ed in wider circles than that circumscribed by the family, comes to correi late the behaviour and experience of i those wider cireb's with that of thi ; narrower, ami finds the judgments of ( its parents, hitherto regarded as inI fallible, are not of necessity accepted I by all the world. Nevertheless, in this I wider circle, there is the influence ex- | ercised by each individual comprising jit, and the generic influence of whati ever society it enters as a whole. SubI ject to social judgments of all sorts, the child comes naturally to accept the 1 ‘‘prestige suggestion’’ of society rath- • : er than that of tin* family. It rdmits the rights of society, and generally f speaking the weight of pressure.' behind the majority is such that it ('liters their ranks. Family Life and Wider Issues. i • j The former development of self-in- ! forest, however, is that which leads to indifference towards the wider issues involved in social life. Thi' necessities of the ease are such th'.t by : the support of a family, and the arduous and unremitting domestic labour ! family life connotes, the parents are I so fully occupied that they do not and cannot either find time or inclination ' towards the so-called wider issues. They I are busy from dawn till dark, and they /arc consequently content to leave the organisation of society in other hands, accepting the prestige of those others whom they cannot fail to admire at least to some extent. The prestige of those who are doing things of which we do not foil cap-