The influence of cinema on adolescents and young people
Nobody doubts that the movie movies they are an instrument of culture, a formative medium, both for children and adolescents and for adults. But the same thing that helps shape certain aspects of adolescents' personality, the movie theater it can also become a "deforming" medium. So you have to try to learn to watch movies because nobody is born knowing how to watch a movie. And more now that with the Christmas holidays there is more time to spend a magical afternoon in front of a huge screen movie.
Go to the movies It has a special charm and already assumes a certain critical spirit (you have to make an effort to decide the movie, buy the ticket, sometimes take a public transport to get to the room ...) that is completely lost before the television set and before the remote control. It is not the same, it is something that moviegoers affirm, to see a movie in a film that is a video. It can not be compared.
The importance of seeing good movies for teenagers
There is no need to go to movie theater, but a convenience. Like it is very convenient to read the newspaper. In this society in which we live, visual messages are very important. Perhaps parents are not so accustomed, but children, even as children, receive a great deal of information through sight and audiovisual media.
That's why it's convenient for a teenager to watch movies. But it is even more important that you watch good movies. A boy of that age needs a cultural education and the movie movies they usually reflect the environments, the values, the interests very well. Of course, under some points of view sometimes very wrong.
And of this there are many examples. The movie The strength of one It shows a series of values that are very important for an adolescent: fidelity in friendship, the ability to serve to teach the weakest, everything that refers to solidarity.
Cinema: example of values in movies
It is important that the films that our children see have a significant amount of values: audacity, courage, friendship, loyalty, etc. Are some human values that enter better through the eyes than with theoretical talks. Sometimes, if they do not have generous friends, the only way to see that value embodied is in the characters in a book or in a movie.
Like books, film films are stories, which does not mean that they are either good or bad. It depends on the story what counts and how it does it. But you have to know how to take advantage of all the positive things that it offers when it comes to a good movie.
Adolescents take everything as an example, the good and the bad, because they usually do not have enough criteria. That is why the heroes of the screen are so important: they must have those qualities that make them identify with those human approaches that we want them to share.
Characters, themes, conflicts ... in the cinema
The adolescent will take as one of his points of reference the way in which the hero faces conflicts. For example, if the protagonist confronts his parents with lack of confidence, he shouts at them and only confides his problems to his friends ... what can our son understand?
Most films are made from the parents' point of view. Although there are no films for teenagers, some do have some peculiar characteristics that hook them: when they feel identified with the protagonists, if the characters are of their age, if they go through this situation at home or at school ... and especially if you can understand it.
What we can not try is that our son or daughter never goes to the cinema: all his friends go and a good movie is like a good book ... And who is going to prohibit someone who does not read a good book?
Qualifications under review: commercial criteria
Everyone agrees that it is good for movies to have some kind of qualification that helps to discern parents. What happens is that in Spain this rating is established by the distributor itself. The Ministry has to approve it, but usually does not put any obstacles. The conclusion is clear: do not rely too much on these qualifications because they are often made with commercial criteria.
Parents concerned about the education of their children must be very attentive and know the billboard. It is quite difficult, and for many probably impossible. But at least we have to have on hand some kind of reliable publication that reviews these films and know the movies that clearly should not go to see our children. And, if all the above is not feasible, maybe a friend of ours a little more aware can advise us from time to time.
Film and movies: tips to stimulate critical thinking
1. A film seen in the cinema reaches deeper than a television view. Thus, if the film is good and with an adequate vision of life, the good it will do to our son is enormous. But if it's bad ...
2. You have to go to the movies, the same as we buy a magazine from time to time or read a book every month. It is one of the means diffusers of culture of our time. And, in addition, we're going to have a great time.
3. The teenager takes as a reference the way in which the hero confronts conflicts. Does the protagonist seek success for success only? Does the protagonist distrust his parents? Attention.
4. It is not so easy to learn well, by itself, of the cinematographic panorama, with so many premieres and directors so it can be good to be done with some newspaper, magazine, information service, etc. of our confidence that can clarify us which are the best films.
5. There are not only visual problems in a movie (strong scenes). The background ideas it conveys are also important.
Ignacio Iturbe
Advice: Jesús María Mínguez.Professor of the School of Visual Arts
