1. Introduction
One of the essential features of today′s society is the presence of technology and audio-visual media, which influence the ways of interacting and perceiving reality. Ref. [
1] indicated that this global phenomenon has shaped a cultural reality centered on the development of the image, as compared to a subtle abandonment of reading and writing. This context makes demands on citizens, given that the existence of a diversity of languages implies the need to dominate them in order to have full growth. Ref. [
2] argued that literacy in the 21st century is a set of cultural practices that enables engagement and expression of meaning through mastery of different domains, such as speech, writing, still and moving images, and music.
Among the most relevant audio-visual media is the cinema, with more than 100 years of history. The cinema comprises a form of self-expression and has influenced many generations. Several works Ref. [
3,
4,
5] have conceptualized cinema from different perspectives, such as art, technique, spectacle, language, document, entertainment, pictorial expression, source of information and culture. Ref. [
6] highlights a double facet in the cinema. On the one hand, the cinema as an art form. On the other hand, as a mass media, as it reflects customs, fashions and beliefs. For their part, Ref. [
7] pointed out that cinema is an art of complex expression as it is at once audio-visual, digital, multimedia, plastic, dynamic, verbal and gestural. All this increases its capacity to generate changes in the subjects. In this sense, cinema is a language with a great power of attraction that can provoke a process of identification in the spectator and stimulate him to perform behaviors for life and also for death [
8].
In the history of cinema, a diversity of tendencies and topics have been shown, forming different themes and rules, which are recognized by the spectators. Therefore, although there is no agreed taxonomy around the different genres or types of cinema, we can highlight, in the first place, the fiction genres, which have in common stories and fictional characters that, as [
9] indicates, base their verisimilitude on the internal coherence and narrative of the created world. In contrast, documentary cinema aims to capture fragments of reality in a faithful way and to connect with the being of the spectator and not with the wanting to be [
10]. Similarly, it is important to mention animation cinema, which with the rapid technological advances and starting from an image of non-real action, has had a great development, offering entertainment, fun and a creativity that manages to seduce the spectator [
11]. In animated film, it is worth noting the enormous influence exerted by Disney, as a pillar of entertainment and generator of cultural representations for children in many countries [
12].
Considering the nature of cinema and its evolution throughout history, the language of film is eclectic and comes from many sources. Ref. [
13] indicate that cinema is a compendium of communication elements. Ref. [
14] states that cinema is the synthesis of many arts and disciplines. Nevertheless, cinema has its own identity, despite the interrelations it has with other languages and the fact that it forms part of a wider audiovisual ecosystem, and should not be confused with other media. In this sense, Ref. [
2] considers cinema as a form of artistic expression, as opposed to other media, such as television, which are essentially entertainment, and advocate that cinema should not be diluted in the generic category of social media. Similarly, Ref. [
15] claims the purity of cinema and denounces the contamination suffered by the audiovisual media, which ends up denaturing the essence of cinema. In this way, they indicate that “the word audiovisual should be removed from everything that specifically relates to cinema and advocate a radical separation” [
15] (p. 56). In this line, the cinema, catalogued as the seventh art, is pure, and does not need to be critically analyzed with respect to other media, such as television or advertising. The present study promotes the identity of cinema itself, but without forgetting the growing connections between the various audiovisual languages. To this, it must be added the technological changes in film production and dissemination. If this is not taken into account, we would have a partial vision of cinema, eliminating elements of reflection on it. From this perspective, it is understood that a film is an audiovisual work conceived as a cinematographic production, whose main objective is to be shown in cinemas, but which can also be shown in other dissemination channels, such as television or the Internet, but which is different from other non-cinematographic audiovisual content.
From an educational point of view, if one of the objectives that every educational system should have is to generate in the students some competences for the free and autonomous discovery of the world in which they live, in favor of an integral formation, the cinema cannot be absent in the educational centers. Therefore, the cinema as a mirror of reality has a great pedagogical potential, since it is an attractive medium that, as [
16] note, offers the opportunity to learn in a more exciting way and to reflect and exchange ideas on psychosocial realities. Ref. [
17] emphasize that it is necessary to redefine cinema as an exceptionally enriching medium for educating in the image. To give it its true entity, cinema should not be understood as a simple didactic support, but as the shaper of new, more significant learning environments, since, following [
18], cinema is a tool that, apart from exposing a visual representation, is loaded with other symbols, and that, if conducted in an optimal way, can generate a more enriching and collaborative language between the teacher and the student.
Among all the audiovisual media, the cinema, as well as the television, is the one that has a greater tradition of didactic use since their generalization in the middle of the 20th century [
19]. For [
20], the inclusion of cinema in education is justified because it can generate a durable learning, attract students and be interdisciplinary. Nonetheless, the specific application of cinema in education is not without its difficulties, which put the development of all its educational possibilities at risk. According to [
21], the use of the cinema in education must be done in a very concrete way, with a correct integration in the curricular programming and linking it closely to the didactic objectives. This author concludes that it is essential to carry out an adequate planning and to delimit what is intended to be achieved through the cinema. Ref. [
22] emphasizes that one of the most relevant aspects is knowing how to correctly choose the film to be worked on, carefully applying some guidelines. On the other hand, the inclusion of cinema is a task for school organization to determine the different roles, as well as for management, implementing the necessary strategies [
23]. Ref. [
24] indicates that the greatest challenges when applying cinema in the classroom are the lack of teacher training, the lack of knowledge on the part of the students, the lack of resources and support materials in the schools and the rigidity of the curriculum. In order to overcome time and resource constraints, Ref. [
6,
19] argue that it is desirable to take advantage of the flexibility offered by digital cinema and adapt films to the time available and educational objectives. In this sense, it is advisable to use whole movies, fragments of movies or short films and to stop the film, move it forward or backward depending on the activity being carried out [
25]. Therefore, it can be said that the optimal application of cinema in the classroom essentially requires a pedagogical strategy for educational use, and the involvement of teachers and educational institutions.
In contrast to other resources with educational potential, cinema as a mass media is present in the lives of teachers, whether they are already in service or in their pre-service teacher education. If we look at the second group, it is worth asking what relation these students have to the cinema. The role that cinema has in its leisure and cultural activities is a socio-educational reality that deserves to be investigated as a variable to be taken into account in order to face the application of cinema in the classroom. In this sense, cinema as a social phenomenon influences collectively and individuals, shaping a state for life, especially among young people [
26]. Furthermore, the cinematographic habits that future teachers may have are a way of accessing knowledge of cinema and, therefore, of formation. Hence, students acquire skills not only from educational institutions, but also from other non-formal channels [
27]. This double aspect generates a socio-educational approach, since it takes into account cinema as a potential educational resource and as a means of social communication. Likewise, in the Spanish context, it is particularly appropriate to analyze film habits, considering the country′s territorial distribution, which is organized around Autonomous Communities with their own political, educational and cultural identity that can be expressed in differences in students′ personal and social habits.
Based on the above, the general objective of this study is to understand the film consumption habits of teacher’s degree students in Spanish universities. The following specific objectives underlie this general objective:
To analyze the weekly frequency with which cinema is viewed in Spain, by Autonomous Community, by type of teacher’s degree and by type of university.
To examine the type of cinema usually consumed in Spain and according to the Autonomous Community, the type of teacher’s degree and the type of university.
To identify the devices that are usually used to watch films.
3. Results
The results of the study, grouped according to the quantified variables, are presented below.
3.1. Film Viewing Frequency per Week
Regarding the number of films viewed weekly by the teacher’s degree students in Spain, the results showed that 32.8% watched one film per week and 27.0% watched two. Likewise, a significant percentage usually watched more than two films and less than six, specifically, 14.7% watched three films, 7.1% watched four and 3.7% watched five. A very small minority of students watch six, seven or more films, with 1.1%, 0.5% and 1.2% respectively. Only 12.0% say they don′t watch any films a week. On the other hand, it should be noted that the mean number of films regularly watched by degree level students is 2.09 films per week.
In order to analyze the number of films watched per week, according to the Autonomous Community, the results are presented in
Table 2.
The results obtained show that the four communities with the highest mean number of film views are Extremadura, Cantabria, Aragón and Castilla y León with 2.52, 2.46, 2.42 and 2.42 respectively. In this sense, Aragón has the highest percentage of students who watch four films (15.9%) and Castilla y León has the highest percentage of students who watch five films per week (7.0%). Likewise, Extremadura also had a very high percentage watching three or more films, with 40.9%. In most Autonomous Communities, a mean of two films were watched, except in Castilla-La Mancha, Cataluña, Murcia and País Vasco, which watched a mean of one film. The communities with the highest percentage of students not watching any film per week were País Vasco (18.6%), Navarra (15.5%) and Murcia (13.8%).
Regarding the number of films watched according to the type of teacher′s degree, as can be observed in
Table 3, the percentage of students in the Pre-school teacher′s degree who watched two films per week was slightly higher than that of Primary Education, 28.2% as compared with 25.9%, respectively, but the percentage of students in the Primary Education Degree, who watched four or more films per week was slightly higher. The above makes the mean almost identical.
Regarding the frequency of films by type of university, the number of students at public universities who did not watch any films per week was slightly higher, 12.1% as compared with 10.7%, and the number who watched one film per week was lower, 32.4% as compared with 36.1%, respectively. However, fewer students at private universities watched two or three films, 26.1% and 14.3% as compared with 27.1% and 14.8%, respectively. Between four and seven films, there were 12.3% of students from public universities (7.1%, 3.6%, 1.1% and 0.5%) and 12.1% from private universities (7.1%, 4.0%, 0.6% and 0.4%). In addition, 1.2% of students at public universities and 0.6% at private universities watch more than seven films per week. The mean is 2.09 in public universities and 2.02 in private universities.
3.2. Type of Cinema Usually Watched
The results on the type of cinema seen by students who have a weekly habit of consuming films are presented by grouping the type of cinema into three large categories, fiction, documentary and animation, and in their different combinations, starting from a dichotomous response. 57.1% of participants watched only fiction films, 1.5% watched only animated films and 0.5% watched only documentary films. If we consider the habit of watching several types of cinema at the same time, 28.9% combine fiction and animation cinema, 5.7% fiction and documentary cinema and 0.1% documentary and animation cinema. Furthermore, 6.1% habitually watched fiction, documentary and animation films at the same time.
Table 4,
Table 5 and
Table 6 below present the results of the type of cinema viewed, by Autonomous Community, according to whether it was fiction, documentary or animated.
As can be seen, the community with the highest percentage of students who watch only fiction films is Murcia with 64.9%, while in the rest of the community it is no less than 40.0%. For its part, documentary films are seen only exceptionally, being only in Asturias, Extremadura, Murcia and La Rioja, where more than 1% of its students watch only documentary films. On the other hand, in relation to animation cinema without combining it with other types of cinema, this is the most frequently seen in the different Autonomous Communities, although, in Canarias, Cantabria, Extremadura, Navarra and La Rioja, no student sees exclusively animation cinema. Similarly, the Communities with the highest percentage of students who watched animated films were Castilla-La Mancha, País Vasco and Andalucía, with 6.1%, 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively.
Table 7,
Table 8,
Table 9 and
Table 10 below present the results of the combinations of the types of cinema viewed by the teacher′s degree students, based on the Autonomous Community to which they belong.
According to the data presented, 19.0% of students in each community have combined consumption habits of fiction and animation films, with Aragón and Canarias standing out with 46.8% and 40.2%, respectively. At the opposite end is La Rioja, where only 19.2% of students watch these two types of films. In turn, if we consider the combined viewing of fiction and documentary films, it is worth noting that the bulk of the student body in the different communities is between 3% and 7%. The communities with the highest percentage of students who watched these two types of films were Cataluña (8.6%) and Navarra (8.3%). In contrast, the community with the lowest number of students watching fiction and documentary films was Castilla-La Mancha. Regarding the habit of viewing documentary and animated films, only three Autonomous Communities, Cataluña, Galicia and Madrid, had students who viewed these two types of films in a combined manner. Finally, it is worth noting that all Autonomous Communities have students who regularly watch fiction, documentary and animation films at the same time. In this sense, La Rioja and Cantabria are the communities with the highest percentage of students who watch all three types of film, with 15.4% and 15.0% respectively.
Regarding the type of cinema seen according to the teacher′s degree, the results obtained are presented in
Table 11.
The findings show that in the two degrees only fiction films are seen in practically the same percentage, 57.8% of students in the Primary Education degree and 56.4% in the Pre-school Education teacher degree. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the student body of the Pre-school Education teacher degree sees a little more fiction and animation combined than the student body of the Primary Education teacher degree, specifically, 31.8% as compared with 26.2%. In contrast, the pupil in the Primary Education teacher′s degree saw slightly more fiction and documentary films combined than the pupil in the Pre-school Education teacher′s degree (7.0% as compared with 4.4%), as well as more fiction, documentary and animation films combined (6.9% as compared with 5.4%).
Regarding the type of cinema viewed, by type of university, as observed in
Table 12, the students in private universities watched more fiction and documentary films than those in public universities, 9.2% as compared with 5.3%. Conversely, the students at public universities watched slightly more fiction and animation films at the same time, 29.5% as compared with the 23.8% of students at private universities. Finally, it is worth noting that no participating students from private universities watch both documentary and animated films.
3.3. Devices to Watch Movies Regularly
Regarding the devices used to watch movies by the teacher′s degree students who watch movies weekly, the results of the answers from the multiple choice are presented (
Table 13).
The results showed an outstanding use of the television (36.6%) and the computer (34.9%) as the most common devices for watching movies, with the cinema projector being the third most used medium, although with a considerably lower percentage (17.1%).
4. Discussion
The aim of this work has been to know the film habits of the teacher′s degree students in Spain. The findings revealed that 88% are regular film consumers per week. In this sense, 59.8% usually watch one or two films, reaching 74.5% if we add the students who watch three films a week. If we look at the overall mean, this is two films per week. These results coincide with those obtained by [
32], who analyzed the film consumption habits of Spanish and Latin American university students and reflected a regular, albeit moderate, consumption of films, that is, not daily. If we look at the results obtained according to the Autonomous Community, students in Extremadura and Cantabria have the highest film viewing habits. In this sense, the students from Extremadura and Cantabria who watch three or more films a week rise to 40.9% and 33.3%, respectively. On the opposite side are País Vasco, Navarra and Murcia, which have a percentage of more than 13% of students who do not watch any films per week. Ref. [
25] found that a higher frequency of film viewing leads to a more positive perception of the potential of cinema as a didactic resource among teacher′s degree students. These differences manifest themselves per student and per region and have their effect on the future application of cinema in the classroom. If the student body is compared according to the type of teacher′s degree and the type of university, the number of films watched per week is very similar, so it can be said that this is not a differentiating factor. In this sense, the student body of the two grades watched two movies per week, although the student body of the Pre-school teacher′s degree saw a slightly higher percentage (28.1%) of movies per week, while the students of the Primary Education teacher′s degree watched a little more usually one movie per week (33.2%). In turn, the student body at public universities who did not watch any films per week was slightly higher (12.1%) than that belonging to private universities. These similarities coincide with the analysis of [
32], which found similar frequencies of film viewing by students from different undergraduate studies and universities.
As regards the type of cinema usually seen, the study has shown a habit of cinema where fiction cinema clearly prevails, as 57.13% of those surveyed see only fiction cinema and when several types of cinema are usually combined, the most common combinations are always with fiction cinema, as is the case of those who see fiction cinema and animation cinema, which is 28.94%. These findings are similar to the results obtained by [
33,
34,
35], which show that audiovisual consumption is essentially associated with fiction and its various sub-genres. In this sense, animation and documentary remain the most minority genres, especially the latter.
If we look at the Autonomous Communities, Murcia is the community that watches the most fiction films exclusively (64.9%), while documentaries are not watched exclusively in any autonomy more than 2%. The community that watches more animated films exclusively is Castilla-La Mancha (6.1%), and it is clear that the communities that watch more animated films only are those that watch less documentary films, as is the case of La Rioja and Extremadura, in line with the contrast between these two types of cinema, since animation is far from reality and the documentary aims at an objective register or sincere reconstruction [
36]. This fact is reproduced when watching animation and documentary at the same time, since, in fourteen Autonomous Communities, there are no students with this filmmaking habit. Aragón, on the other hand, is the Autonomous Community whose students watch the most fiction and animation films together (46.8%), Cataluña, where they watch the most fiction and documentary films together, and La Rioja and Cantabria, whose students most regularly watch fiction, documentary and animation films together. The data obtained are relevant due to the fact that, as they have stated [
25], having a habit of consuming only fiction films determines a less positive perception of cinema as a didactic resource. On the other hand, the fact that students usually only watch documentaries on several types of films at the same time has a positive influence on their perception of the educational possibilities of cinema. Considering the type of teacher′s degree and the type of university, as was the case with the number of films viewed per week, the results reflected that the habits regarding the type of cinema viewed were almost identical, once again confirming that it was not a variable that originated relevant differences, in line with the findings of [
32].
With regard to movie viewing devices, it has been reflected that 71.5% of students have as their preferred media the television and the computer, the former being the most used by 36.6%. These results reflect the diversification of film consumption devices, above the original mean of watching films, which was the cinema, in a “multi-screen society” [
37] (p. 22) and technological variety, in line with the studies of [
38,
39,
40]. Similarly, the studies of [
41,
42,
43,
44] confirm the coexistence in audiovisual consumption of young Spanish people between television and the growing space of the Internet through multiple devices, and, according to [
42], the preference for cinema consumption on television increases among people over 18. This fact can be said to affect the way we approach the reality of cinema and the experience that cinema can generate, being more individualistic and fragmented. In this sense, the results of the study carried out by [
45] shows that cinema attendance among the Spanish population has decreased considerably, with 53% never or almost never going to the cinema, although among the youngest people, attendance is 5% higher than among the rest of the population. In short, these data, together with those obtained from the frequency of film viewing, show that cinema has a penetration in the population studied, but increasingly from the home and less and less from the cinema. These data are reinforced by the studies of [
46,
47], which shows that young Spanish people and university students spend more time-consuming fictional television series using a computer, to the detriment of other audiovisual content such as films.
5. Conclusions
Based on the proposed aims and the findings, the following conclusions are indicated:
Most students in the teacher′s degree have a habit of watching two films a week.
The type of cinema that is usually seen is fiction cinema, watching it exclusively or combining it with other types of cinema to a lesser extent.
The most common means of watching movies are television and the computer.
As a limitation of the study, it is worth mentioning the fact that five private Spanish universities refused to collaborate in the study. This meant that a larger and more balanced sample could not be obtained, and that students from all universities participated.
The study presented is a pioneer in analyzing this theme in Spain. The confirmation that futures teachers are habitual consumers of cinema should serve to promote specific training in the teacher′s degree that contributes to an optimal application of cinema as a didactic resource, complementing the knowledge that the students have of cinema outside the university. If cinema is a resource with educational potential which does not require a very expensive economic investment and besides is a popular medium among future teachers, then the possibilities of implementing training in the didactic use of cinema are greater. This could be done through a specific subject or in a transversal way in each area of knowledge. In this sense, a specific subject should be included that addresses training in audiovisual resources, such as film, for educational use. This subject should be addressed by going beyond technical approaches that reduce cinema to a mere technological instrument, giving priority to reflective approaches, critical analysis and knowledge creation. Its contents should address didactic training for the educational use of cinema. In addition to this, cinema must be approached in this subject as an audiovisual language and a means of artistic expression. Moreover, cinema could be a resource to work in a transversal way in the agenda of subjects, in order to explore its educational possibilities in different knowledge areas. In this sense, priority should be given to training in the creation of activities through cinema. Furthermore, teachers of Teacher Training degree programs should carry out activities with students using film. Training for the didactic use of cinema should be extended to all Autonomous Communities, although with more intensity in those whose students have a lesser habit of watching films. Furthermore, training should be developed with the use of different types of cinema, filling one of the gaps detected in the cinematographic habits of students in the teacher′s degree. The educational possibilities of documentary films [
48] and animation films [
49], not only fiction films, have been highlighted.
On the other hand, in order to encourage film consumption habits in line with educational objectives, it is appropriate for education faculties should conduct training initiatives to promote cinema with special cultural and educational value, that can contribute to better teacher performance in the future. Consequently, film screenings and activities should be organized to make visible to students a cinema that enriches their cultural background and promotes a critical and reflective vision of cinematographic works to develop mature and responsible viewers. In this line, students should also be encouraged to get used to seeing a greater variety of types of cinema, beyond fiction films, promoting, for example, documentary films that have a lesser commercial diffusion. Furthermore, we should also encourage the habit of going to the cinema, to recover the original experience of cinema in all its breadth. This could be done through collaboration agreements between universities and cinemas, which would allow greater access to theatres for educational purposes. All of that, with the purpose of favoring the personal enrichment of the students and promoting a transference to the social-educational context.