TY - JOUR
T1 - Explaining the role of character development in the evaluation of morally ambiguous characters in entertainment media
AU - Kleemans, M
AU - Eden, A
AU - Daalmans, S
AU - van Ommen, M
AU - Weijers, GWM
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - The current project aims at better understanding how narrative characteristics in stories function in the liking, moral evaluation, and enjoyment of narratives featuring morally ambiguous characters (MACs). Shafer and Raney (2012) found that viewers differently enjoyed a heroic versus MAC-centered narrative. Building on this approach, a mixed-method design was used to investigate character development in two morally ambiguous narratives. Results of both a qualitative content analysis and an experiment provide support for the claim that character development is a central mechanism to explain viewer responses to MACs in narrative content. Thus, this study provides new directions for understanding characters in media research.
AB - The current project aims at better understanding how narrative characteristics in stories function in the liking, moral evaluation, and enjoyment of narratives featuring morally ambiguous characters (MACs). Shafer and Raney (2012) found that viewers differently enjoyed a heroic versus MAC-centered narrative. Building on this approach, a mixed-method design was used to investigate character development in two morally ambiguous narratives. Results of both a qualitative content analysis and an experiment provide support for the claim that character development is a central mechanism to explain viewer responses to MACs in narrative content. Thus, this study provides new directions for understanding characters in media research.
KW - Affective Disposition Theory
KW - Character development
KW - Enjoyment
KW - Morally ambiguous characters
KW - Viewer responses
U2 - doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2016.10.003
DO - doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2016.10.003
M3 - Article
VL - 60
SP - 16
EP - 28
JO - Poetics : Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts
JF - Poetics : Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts
SN - 0304-422x
ER -