The Ways In Which You Can Improve: Instructional Films
As the youth within our modern society continue to grow more consumed with their self-image with the passing of every generation, they are also plagued with the heavy load that is finding their place in the world as they mature. This obsession with self-perfection within one’s youth commonly coincides with the stress of navigating the onslaught of decisions and responsibility the will inevitably befall them. Many educational institutions of today feel the need to intervene in these situations and put lessons in place that promote self-love and individuality, many times in the form of visual media. However, this is not a new tactic that many modern schools are only now discovering if we look back at how the stresses of teens growing up where handle in the past we will see a very similar approach to this problem. After the 1940’s it had become common for educational documentary filmmakers to produce instructional films that would detail the protocol needed in different situations to meet the expectations or values being presented in the film. What has changed, however, are the types of behaviors and ways of thought that were taught in this visual media regarding self-image. With these films as an example, it is simple to see as to where these preoccupations with self-image developed and how these films played a role in manipulating the thoughts of children to highly value and yearn for societal approval.
The purpose of the films was to educate youth on the several societal expectations they might face as they fall into adulthood, as well as, to ensure that these expectations were to be held on to and passed down generationally. Which, in this selfie obsessed and the self-comparative world, it is easy to see how they have succeeded in this endeavor in unexpected ways. The idea that the many companies felt the need to produce instructional films to guide young people on the extremely high standard in which they are to consistently adhere to directly the shows the rigidity and uniformity pertaining to the expectations surrounding adult life within this time period. The motivation of the lifestyle seemed to center around the need to conform, presenting one’s best self only in ways that were deemed acceptable. And the best way for youth to successfully learn to conform was to teach the importance of developing personal disciplines that would aid youth in making acceptable decisions that they may anticipate to make as they mature.
The purpose of this paper is to explore three ways in which the youth of this time period were taught to develop the personal disciplines required to have what was believed to be a happy life that, even more importantly, fits into the formalities of the current status quo. The manufacturers of academic aids saw the development of these “required disciplines” as an opportunity to create films detailing the specific expected behavior of the youth as they grew into young adults. These lessons included: training to improve your personality to better suit common social situations, maintaining a tidy, and fashionable appearance, as well as managing healthy friendships and romantic relationships. This paper will ultimately explain the relationship between these three personal disciplines and what this time’s society had deemed as significant in regard to learning the art of living, finding where one belonged in the world. This paper will also explore the relationship between modern societies perspective on self-image versus the perspective held at the time these instructional films were made.