We often wonder about the negative impact certain kinds of movies might have, but there’s some heartening news about the potential positive effects of films. According to Science Daily, “Discussing five movies about relationships over a month could cut the three-year divorce rate for newlyweds in half, researchers report. The study, involving 174 couples, is the first long-term investigation to compare different types of early marriage intervention programs.
The findings show that an inexpensive, fun, and relatively simple movie-and-talk approach can be just as effective as other more intensive therapist-led methods -- reducing the divorce or separation rate from 24 to 11 percent after three years.”
This compares favorably with more sophisticated and expensive approaches to preventing the breakdown of marriages. The idea is to ask couples to watch the films and see whether they recognize any of their own behaviors, as well as to note the effects of certain kinds of behaviors on relationships.
One of the movies used was Two for the Road, from 1967, which tracks a relationship over the course of a dozen years.
The online version of the list of films and suggested questions for discussion is here: http://www.rochester.edu/news/divorce-rate-cut-in-half-for-couples-who-discussed-relationship-movies/movie-list.html
This wasn’t part of the study, but it seems to me that one of the exciting implications is that watching certain types of movies with your kids and discussing them afterward could also be helpful in shaping their behavior constructively.