Our Movie Made Children

i MOTION PICTURES AND YOUTH An In- troduction, by W. W. Charters, combined with GETTING IDEAS FROM THE MOVIES, by P. W. Holaday and George D. Stoddard THE CONTENT OF MOTION PICTURES and CHILDRENS ATTENDANCE AT MOTION PICTURES, by Edgar Dale THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSES OF CHIL DREN TO THE MOTION PICTURE SITUATION, by W. S. Dysinger and Chris- tian A. Ruckmick, combined with MOTION PICTURES AND STANDARDS OF MO- RALITY, by Charles C. Peters MOTION PICTURES AND THE SOCIAL ATTITUDES OF CHILDREN, by Ruth C. Peterson and L. L. Thurstone, combined with RELATIONSHIP OF MOTION PICTURES TO THE CHARACTER AND ATTI- TUDES OF CHILDREN, by Mark A. May and Frank Shuttleworth CHILDRENS SLEEP, by Samuel Renshaw, Vernon A. Miller, and Dorothy Marquis MOVIES AND CONDUCT, by Herbert Blumer MOVIES, DELINQUENCY, AND CRIME, by Herbert Blumer and Philip M. Hauser BOYS, MOVIES, AND CITY STREETS, by Pad G. Cressey and Frederick M. Thrasher HOW TO APPRECIATE MOTION PIG TURES, by Edgar Dale INTRODUCTION THE basic material which Mr. Forman has used in preparing this volume is found in the studies which are - - - listed by title on the opposite page. These investigations, made during 1929 to 1933 at the request of the Motibn Picture Research Council, were supported by the Payne Fund, an organization interested in the radio, motion pictures and reading in relation to children and youth. The investigators, whose names appear as authors of the studies, organized a program of research and dele- gated to members of the group the responsibility for studying one or more problems in the field in which they were competent. These studies were carried on independently. The investigators were not expected to pool their findings as a group and make a pronounce- ment about the movies. They rather conducted twelve independent investigations to furnish data for those who wished to use them. As chairman of the group I was requested to write a summary of the studies in a monograph of the series. To Mr. Forman was entrusted the task.of preparing a popular summary, and I was charged with the respon- sibility of attesting the accuracy of the scientific findings as set forth in his book. I have examined Mr. Formans manuscript. He shows a thorough grasp of the facts in the complicated materials presented in the nearly three thousand pages which constitute the report of the twelve studies. His interpretation of the studies, however, his selection of illustrative material, his literary style, his dramatic and emphatic presentation are of necessity en- tirely his own. Disregarding those differences in details of interpreta- tion and individuality of style which are inevitable, I agree with the author in the fundamental position that the motion picture is powerful to an unexpected degree in affecting the information, attitudes, emotional ex- ...