DUBIOUS INFLUENCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26227, 10 August 1946, Page 6

DUBIOUS INFLUENCES

The clamour against undesirable influences in entertainment for the young is not a new thing. Before the advent of commercial broadcasting, with its sensational serial fare, the cinema was periodically the subject of attack, and, before it, the comic papers and “ penny dreadfuls ” were fropa time to time viewed with alarm by parents, teachers, and social -workers. Each of these sources has been the subject of investigation to ascertain whether or not harmful influences originate with them, but there has been no general agreement for or against. The explanation may. really lie in the possibility that children and adolescents who display more or less active anti-social tendencies may have their imaginations dangerously excited by stories, films, or radio serials which are filled with crudities of horror and violence when those tendencies are already latent in their minds. There is little evidence to indicate that normal, healthy people, whatever their ages may be, are seriously affected by such things. The question of eliminating such possible stimulants from the entertainment fare of the nation poses the same difficulty as arises in connection with the censorship of books: To what extent should the majority be deprived because of the weakness of the very few who, in most cases, are likely to find fuel for their abnormalities in any case? The latest to direct criticism against the influence of the gangster type of serials is the Christchurch probation officer, Mr W. H. Darby, who is convinced that “ if the influence of some of the programmes broadcast is not disastrous, it is at least very unsettling to young people.” There can be no doubt that the radio serial can produce a much more vivid impression than a film or a pulp magazine story, since it reacts deeply on the imagination. For this reason alone a case can be made out for the withdrawal of over-sensational serials as “ bedtime stories ” for children. It must also be borne in mind that in America —the country from which most, if not all, of these serials come —this type of entertainment is not devised primarily for children. It, and many of the adventure and comic newspaper strips, are largely intended for an audience and for readers of less tender years. This

is a peculiar fact and one which does not readily occur to the average New Zealander. These serials and publications, therefore, include scenes and language which are definitely not suitable for children. A possibility which might be investigated is that, if more suitable fare cannot be procured elsewhere, the scripts of such stories rather than the complete recordings could be obtained and adapted, produced and recorded in this country, or in Australia, for local use. Whether or not these serials are a menace to the morals or the behaviour of the young people, it is all too frequently demonstrated that they are undesirable culturally. These influences at least could be purged under a system such as is suggested.