There is a long-standing debate over the impact of cinema over people. Some believe that the film industry makes younger generations behave or act in a certain way. There are movies that made us more aware and are considered catalysts for social change. But, there are also films that make people behave in an irrational or wrong way. So, is cinema positive or negative for young generations like students?
This all depends on the movie, its story, and its goal. It also depends greatly on the student’s perspective and how easily swayed they are. If the movie is realistic, educational, and can act as an influence, it can have an impact over its audience.
A study at the University of Dayton by Michelle Pautz suggests that some movies act as an influence. In this study, college students were asked about their views on a topic before and after they watched movies on the subject. 20% of the participants were somehow influenced by the movie. Some of them have changed their mind while others have boosted their perception even more.
How Does Cinema Change Students’ Minds?
A lot of cinema today is aimed to make people believe in something. It’s like writing an essay – your goal is to convince, persuade, argument something, and simply impact your readers. Cinema experts attempt to do the same. They try to affect people with their plots and stories, reach deep into the psychology, and make them relate to the story. If you want to see how students achieve this in essays, we’ve prepared a psychology essay example for you to serve as an example.
Now the question is – how does cinema affect students?
It all comes down to the choice of a movie, as well as the situation they are in when they watch it. Even though many believe that cinema can give young people wrong ideas, there are movies that are almost essential to watch in a lifetime.
In fact, movies can be an excellent method of boosting a student’s education or introducing something important. Talking about discrimination, poverty, and other social issues become much easier once people have seen an actual story that represents what happens in the world.
For example, after watching Inside Akron’s Tent City, a documentary about homelessness in the world and the battle in Akron, its filmmakers will put this issue at the forefront of your mind. This is an important thing to know and watching it in a documentary can certainly make things clearer. Essentially, it can make young people take action and respond to such issues in the right way.
Movies of patriotism, war, and veterans improve people’s awareness of futile destruction and the importance of peace. Films about specific cultures or society can demystify the ways and help us understand different opinions in our society.
And lastly, there are motivational movies that have a great way of helping viewers keep positive in life. It’s no secret that students struggle with their numerous errands and need some motivation to push forward. There are movies that will show them how important effort is, how it pays off to be persistent, and even motivate them to complete their projects in a timely manner.
Positive vs. Negative Effects of Cinema on Students
Nowadays, there are plenty of films designed to appeal to young audience. There are educational movies that improve the knowledge of students and have positive influence on them. Education is the first benefit of quality cinema.
Next, there’s cinema as a pastime activity. Pupils need to juggle between endless tasks and extra-curricular, which makes it hard to relax and rewind. Watching some television can help them take their minds of their academic work and find something to unwind.
If they watch movies with their loved ones, this also helps them bond well and maintain important relationships.
However, the cinema is not all-beneficial for students. Theatre could be educative, but seeing too much of it too often can turn into a waste of time. This could eventually harm the student’s academic reputation since they aren’t investing enough time in their education.
Some movies are not educational and might even contain improper content like violence or other plots and scenes that have negative effect on pupils. Young people are in their most important phase of learning and they collect information from all sources. This can be bad if a student is swayed in the wrong direction.
The cinema’s effects on students can go both ways – bad or good. The right choice of a movie combined with quality education, or movies as pastime activity can be highly beneficial for students.
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