Social guidance films constitute a genre of propaganda films attempting to influence children and adults to behave in certain ways. Originally produced by the U.S. government as "attitude-building films" during World War II,[1] the genre grew to be a common source of indoctrination in elementary and high school classrooms in the United States from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. The films covered topics including courtesy, grammar, social etiquette and dating, personal hygiene and grooming, health and fitness, civic and moral responsibility, sexuality, child safety, national loyalty, racial and social prejudice, juvenile delinquency, drug use, and driver safety; the genre also includes films for adults, covering topics such as marriage, business etiquette, general safety, home economics, career counseling and how to balance budgets.[2] A subset is known as hygiene films addressing mental hygiene and sexual hygiene.[3]
- ^ Cripps, Thomas (1993). Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era. USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 161. ISBN 0195076699.
- ^ Smith, Ken (1999). Mental Hygiene: Classroom Films 1945 - 1970. New York City: Blast Books. p. 238. ISBN 0-922233-21-7.
- ^ "`Mental Hygiene': The Dos and Don'ts of the Doo-Wop Age".
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