Media Entertainment
Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction to Media Entertainment 2
Hoorcollege 2 - Media Selection: Uses and Gratification 4
Hoorcollege 3 - Entertainment selection: Mood management 8
Hoorcollege 4 - Negative Media Effects 13
Hoorcollege 5 - Positive Media Effects 18
Hoorcollege 6 - Storytelling 22
Hoorcollege 7 - Entertainment Effects: Parasocial Relationships 29
Hoorcollege 8 - Suspense, Horror & Drama 37
Hoorcollege 9 - Humour 44
Hoorcollege 10 - Fandom 53
Hoorcollege 11 - Social Media Effects 60
Hoorcollege 12 - Special Topics: User Generated Entertainment 64
Hoorcollege 13 - Children and Media Entertainment 71
Hoorcollege 14 - Representation in Media 77
Hoorcollege 15 - Music 83
, Hoorcollege 1 - Introduction to Media
Entertainment
Oliver, M. B. (2009). Entertainment. In R. Nabi & M. B. Oliver (Eds.) The Sage handbook of media processes and
effects (pp. 161-177). Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage.
Eden, A. (2017). Entertainment Effects: Enjoyment. In The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects (eds P.
Rössler, C.A. Hoffner and L. Zoonen). doi:10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0163
Entertain = To hold mutually, to hold intertwined
“Any activity to delight and to a smaller degree enlighten through the exhibition of the
fortunes or misfortunes of others, but also through the display of special skills by other
and/or self- Zillmann & Bryant (1994)”
“Any kind of game or play”
History of media technologies: Print, film & recorded music, broadcast, digital media,
interactive media, social media
Entertainment is a large part of all of these media →
*Technologies, channels, genres, and messages designed to entertain.
*People are entertained by much of the mediated communication they consume.
Media entertainment is... “media content designed to be consumed for purposes of leisure
(rather than specifically for information gain, learning, or persuasion)” → Oliver, 2009
Focus on electronic media – e.g., television, film, games.
Defining media entertainment:
- To identify the self with fictional persons or actions
- Physiological, affective, cognitive dimensions including suspension of disbelief,
exhilaration, fear and relief, sadness or melancholy, sensory delight, achievement.
- Indeed, the range of terms, including liking, enjoyment, appreciation, attraction, and
preference, used across studies to capture the notion of enjoyment both reflects and
reinforces the murky conceptual terrain. (Nabi & Krcmar, 2004).
Oliver (2009):
Gives an overview of media studies, like:
Uses and gratification and Mood management: entertainment is selected to manage
mood or affective state. People select media to intensify positive moods or terminating
negative moods. People are not aware of their motivation, but act on behavior that was
successful in the past.
Disposition theory: viewers typically use moral considerations in forming judgements about
the goodness or badness of a character. Once these judgements are formed, viewers’
enjoyment is predicted to be maximized when good (and therefore liked) characters
experience positive outcomes, and bad characters experience negative outcomes. Likewise,
they are disappointed when a good character experiences negative outcomes and a bad
,character positive outcomes.
Besides pleasure, other gratifications that viewers may derive from media entertainment are:
transportation and engagement.
Transportation: focuses on the narrative content or stories. Happens when someone is so
engaged in a story that he becomes lost in the story and is unaware of their immediate
surroundings. A convergent process, where all of the person's mental systems and
capacities are focused on events occurring in the narrative.’
Hedonic happiness: positive affect → Sometimes you select media for hedonic motivations,
like a comedy to laugh and enjoy yourself.
Eudaimonic happiness: greater meaningfulness, insight and purpose → But sometimes
people choose media for eudaimonic motivations, like documentaries because they want to
have more insight in a certain subject. They don’t necessarily enjoy it in a hedonic manner
but do enjoy the media use in a eudaimonic way.
Three important aspects of new technology that are changing the media entertainment
experience:
1. Selectivity
2. Interactivity
3. Mobility
, Hoorcollege 2 - Media Selection: Uses and
Gratification
Krcmar, M. (2017). Uses and Gratifications: Basic Concepts. In The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects
(eds P. Rössler, C.A. Hoffner and L. Zoonen). doi:10.1002/9781118783764.wbieme0045
People don’t consume all the content that is available. They make a selection
Media selection = goal-oriented decision process through which people (consciously or
subconsciously) select from the available mediated messages or avoid certain messages.
User-centered theories
● Uses and gratifications
● Mood management
● Habit models
● Cognitive decisions models
→ What is it in the user that influences what media type she consumes?
Media-centered theories
● Certain features in the (new) media attract audiences
→ What is it in the medium that influences what media type the user consumes?
