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FROM LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT TO SOUL MATE: ROMANTIC IDEALS IN POPULAR
FILMS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH YOUNG PEOPLE‘S BELIEFS ABOUT
RELATIONSHIPS
BY
VERONICA HEFNER
DISSERTATION
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Speech Communication^ Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011
Urbana, Illinois
Doctoral Committee: Professor Barbara J. Wilson, Chair Associate Professor John P. Caughlin Associate Professor Kristen Harrison Associate Professor Travis L. Dixon
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ABSTRACT
Romantic comedy films have been popular since motion pictures first entered the media world. Scholars have speculated why these movies remain appealing to viewers and have argued for several reasons. These movies might foster hope about real-life romance (Galician, 2004), or demonstrate that that there are no limits to how love may manifest itself (Harvey, 1998). Despite this speculation, few studies have systematically investigated the content of these movies or the effects they may have on viewers. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate that potential. In particular, I conducted two studies that explored the nature of romantic ideals in romantic comedy films and their influence on viewer endorsement of romantic beliefs. The first study was a content analysis of the themes or romantic ideals embedded in romantic comedies. The second study was a survey designed to explore whether exposure to such films encourages the learning of romantic ideals among young people. The theories of uses and gratifications, social cognitive, and cultivation served to inform this project. I first analyzed the content of over 50 top-grossing films from the romantic comedy genre. This process involved identifying the type, nature, and context of romantic ideal expressions that characters in these films make (i.e., idealization of other, soul mate/one & only, love at first sight, love conquers all), as well as the statements that contradict or challenge these ideal themes. In particular, I identified the nature of the source, the type of expression, the nature of the target, and how the expression was reinforced (e.g., rewarded, punished). In addition, the content analysis documented the overarching themes of the movies. The results showed that romantic ideals and challenges are prevalent in romantic comedy films, both as overarching themes and as relational expressions. Whereas ideals are overwhelmingly more common as the takeaway message, challenges were featured twice as
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Dedicated to my graduate school girls: Sarah Wilson Clabaugh Rivka Daar Megan Connelly Kosovski^ Nichole Evans Sheila Repeta McDaniel Laura E. Miller Cortney M. Moriarty Tracy Kmetz Murphy I would never have studied this topic if it weren‘t for you and those Wednesday nights…
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A dissertation is the culminating project of a doctoral program of study. Although only my name appears on the cover of this ―paper,‖ a great many individuals have contributed to its creation. The words I offer here can never fully express the immense gratitude I feel towards the people who have helped me succeed. First and foremost, I must thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. During those times when I wanted to quit, He gave me the strength to persevere. During other moments when I didn‘t understand my data or I struggled with writer‘s block, He pulled me through the confusion. I am nothing without my God. The second most important person in this process is a god in the academic world—my advisor, Dr. Barb Wilson. With wisdom and patience, she guided me through the prospectus and dissertation stages and taught me the value of meticulous rigor. She completely transformed my writing; and showed me that revision is not a sign of weakness, but rather a mark of commitment to my craft. At a time in my graduate school career when I felt all might be lost, Barb was the person who believed in me, gave me a second chance, and chose to invest her valuable time in hopes of my success. I owe an inexpressible amount of gratitude to John Caughlin, a committee member and professor that I am proud to call my friend. When I had a statistics problem, JPC helped clear my bewilderment, often responding within just a few days. He was my interpersonal communication expert, and I frequently knocked on his always-open door to pick his brain about literature, methodology, or even professional development. During my graduate tenure, I also shared some personal conversations with John for which I am enormously grateful. Kris Harrison deserves a note of thanks for being a constant source of academic input
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1: ROMANTIC COMEDIES AS SOCIALIZERS ....................................................... CHAPTER 2: THE ROMANTIC IDEAL ..................................................................................... CHAPTER 3: STUDY 1: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ROMANTIC IDEALS IN POPULAR FILMS ................................................................................................................................ CHAPTER 4: STUDY 2: A SURVEY INVESTIGATING YOUNG PEOPLE‘S BELIEFS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS .............................................................................................. CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH ................... CHAPTER 6: TABLES AND FIGURES .................................................................................... REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ APPENDIX A .............................................................................................................................. APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................................. CURRICULUM VITAE ..............................................................................................................
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 List of Coded Movies with Release Dates in order of Highest Grossing Box Office Receipts ............................................................................................................................ 135 Table 2 Percent Agreement for Unitizing at SET level ................................................................ 138 Table 3 Reliability kappas for Source Variables at SET level ..................................................... 139 Table 4 Table 5 ReliabilityReliability kappaskappas for Target Demographics at SET level .............................................for SET Type of Expression, and SET Reinforcement, Film Relational 140 Message............................................................................................................................ 141 Table 6 Frequencies of Demographic Information for Sources .................................................. 142 Table 7 Frequencies of the Demographic Information for Targets............................................. 144 Table 8 Table 9 Frequencies of the Prominence of Sources and Targets ................................................Descriptive Statistics of Scale Variables ........................................................................ (^146147) Table 10 Principal Components Analysis for the Romantic Beliefs Scale .................................. 148 Table 11 List of Romantic Comedy Movies with Weighting Scores for Romantic Content ......... Table 12 Bivariate Correlations for Romantic Media Exposure Variables ................................ 150 Table 13 of Romantic Beliefs .......................................................................................................... Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Endorsement 151 Table 14 Bivariate Correlations for Romantic Belief Subscales ................................................. 152 Table 15 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Endorsement of the Idealization of Other Ideal ..................................................................................... 153 Table 16 of the Love Conquers All Ideal ........................................................................................ Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Endorsement 154 Table 17 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Endorsement of the Love at First Sight Ideal ........................................................................................ 155 Table 18 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Variables Predicting Endorsement Table 19^ of the Soul mate/One and Only Ideal Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between^ ...............................................................................^156 Romantic Comedy Exposure and Relational Experience in Predicting Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs ...................................................................................................... 157 Table 20 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between Romantic Beliefs ..............................................................................................................^ Romantic Comedy Exposure and Relational Status in Predicting Endorsement of 158 Table 21 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between Romantic Comedy Exposure and Perceived Reality in Predicting Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs .......................................................................................................... 159 Table 22 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between Romantic Comedy Exposure and Viewing with a Motivation to Learn in Predicting Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs .................................................................................... 160 Table 23 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between Romantic Comedy Exposure and Perceived Similarity in Predicting Endorsement of Table 24^ Romantic Beliefs .............................................................................................................. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis for Two-way Interaction between^161 Romantic Comedy Exposure and Sex in Predicting Endorsement of Romantic Beliefs .. 162
CHAPTER 1:
ROMANTIC COMEDIES AS SOCIALIZERS
Romantic comedy films have been a successful movie genre ever since the cinema became popular in the early 20th century. In the late 1930s, young adults were choosing to go see romance movies over most other genres of films (Edman, 1940). In fact, romance and comedy films made up nearly half of all produced movies during that period (Edman, 1940). More recently, romantic comedy films such as Knocked Up (2007) and Sex and the City (2008) continue to be popular, each among the top 10 highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time (Box Office Mojo, 2008). In one analysis, the romantic comedy genre was the sixth highest grossing category of films between 1995 and 2010, pulling in over $10 billion in gross revenue during this 15-year period (Nash, 2010). Furthermore, a recent study about what types of media people selectively consume showed that the movies with the highest viewing average were romance-comedy films (Hall, 2005). Clearly, romantic comedies have been a thriving component of the movie industry throughout its history. Romantic movies are often referred to by the colloquial phrase, ―chick flicks,‖ in part because these films seem to target females. Indeed, statistics indicate that the movie-going audience for romantic comedies is made up primarily of females (Nielsen, 2008). Scholarly research also reveals that females report a significantly greater consumption of romantic media content than males do (e.g., Segrin & Nabi, 2002). Despite these tendencies, however, males do report watching romantic media but in smaller doses than do females (e.g., Eggermont, 2004). In fact, some men actually report liking romantic comedies, particularly because these movies often are viewed during dates (Harris et al., 2004).
The popularity of these movies has led some scholars to speculate about why such films are appealing. One common argument for why viewers are drawn to these romantic comedy movies is because they depict relationships as relatively easy and full of possibilities (Galician, 2004). Consequently, these movies can foster hope about real-life romance. For example, Galician (2004), author of a critical analysis of romantic media, argues that people seek romantic content in the media in order to see relationships that appear to work despite all obstacles. Similarly, Harvey (1998), author of a historical critique of romantic comedy films, asserts that these movies demonstrate that there are no limits to how love may manifest itself. In short, both of these authors argue that the appeal of the romantic genre is that it gives viewers a sense of optimism about love because it features examples of relationships that survive the difficulties. Another reason individuals may be attracted to romantic media is because they provide lessons about love and intimacy. For instance, Wood, Senn, Desmarais, Park and Verberg (2002) posited that adolescents seek out romantic content in television and other media in order to better understand how romantic relationships work. Similarly, Winn (2007) chose to analyze the relational scripts (i.e., the events that occur in ―most‖ relationships) in several romantic comedies because she believed that these scripts could influence relational expectations among viewers. In support of this idea, one study found that men, in particular, choose to watch reality dating programs because they are sources of information about dating and romance (Zurbriggen & Morgan, 2006). It is quite possible that viewers seek out romantic comedies for a similar purpose. Despite these arguments about the messages one could learn from romantic media, few systematic analyses of such content exist. Instead, most of the studies, especially those involving romantic films, involve interpretive analyses of particular movies. For example, Rios and Reyes
Screen Media as a Socializing Agent There is plenty of evidence that youth can learn about various aspects of their world from exposure to screen media (e.g., Dill & Thill, 2007; Furnham & Mak, 1999; Hurtz & Durkin, 2004). For example, children can learn about gender roles by watching television. Dozens of content analyses show that television portrays men and women in consistent and gender- stereotypical ways (e.g., Kaufman, 1999; Signorielli & Bacue, 1999; Signorielli & Kahlenberg, 2001). Moreover, a number of surveys and experiments have documented that exposure to sex- stereotyped television is associated with the endorsement of stereotypical attitudes (e.g., Fung & Ma, 2000; Lauzen, Dozier, & Horan, 2008; Signorielli & Lears, 1992; Ward & Friedman, 2006) and an increased likelihood of performing sex-typed behaviors (Ruble, Balaban, & Cooper, 1981). One experiment demonstrated that exposure to gender-stereotypical commercials led to women expressing educational and vocational interest in masculine-oriented domains like math and science (Davies, Spencer, Quinn, & Gerhardstein, 2002). These patterns hold up in survey research even after controlling for a variety of demographic variables such as age and parental education. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of 30 studies involving over 13,000 participants revealed a consistent and positive relationship between exposure to sex-role stereotypes on television and the possession of sexist attitudes (Herrett-Skjellum & Allen, 1996). Young people also can learn about race and ethnicity from the media. A number of content analyses reveal that the portrayal of minority racial groups on television historically has been stereotypical and derogatory (Baptista-Fernandez & Greenberg, 1980; Mastro, 2000). It should be no surprise, then, that in survey research among college students, heavy television viewing has been linked to the possession of negative racial stereotypes (Lee, Bichard, Irey, Walt, & Carlson, 2009). In addition, experimental research has demonstrated that when Whites
are exposed to comedic, stereotypical portrayals of African Americans, they are more likely than those in a control group to rate Blacks as guilty of crimes (Ford, 1997). Beyond fictional portrayals, there is also evidence that watching television news can impact viewer perceptions of minorities. For example, Dixon (2008) found that exposure to network news was positively associated with racial prejudice, such as perceiving African Americans as poor and intimidating. This pattern held up even after controlling for demographics and for individuals‘ political ideology. Furthermore, in an experiment, Gilliam and Iyengar (2000) found that Caucasian residents in Los Angeles who were exposed to news reports about Black perpetrators reported more racist attitudes towards African Americans than did those exposed to White perpetrators. Thus, a variety of different types of television content can influence and activate viewers‘ social judgments about racial minorities. In addition to learning about social groups, young people can find out about occupations from screen media. Signorielli and Kahlenberg (2001) content analyzed segments of prime-time television from 1990-1998 and reported that, when compared with U.S. labor statistics, managerial and service worker positions were under-portrayed, whereas law enforcement jobs were over-represented. Research suggests that such biased portrayals can impact young viewers. For example, Wright et al. (1995) interviewed elementary students and found that heavy viewers of television were more likely than lighter viewers to have job aspirations that matched the glamour and stereotypes of professions shown on television. Furthermore, these heavy viewers‘ schemata of police officers and nurses overlooked the real-life negative aspects associated with such occupations (Wright et al., 1995). Media also can teach young people about the nature of families and family life. Greenberg, Hines, Buerkel-Rothfuss, and Atkin (1980) content analyzed 96 prime-time
Bachelor (2009) and The Pick-Up Artist (2008) are devoted entirely to the quest of finding the right relational partner. Finally, movies have long featured romance and love, especially within the genre called the romantic comedy. Because of the widespread availability of romance in media, it stands to reason that consumers may be affected by such content. One question we might ask is: what sorts of lessons are viewers taking away from the romantic comedies that continue to be so popular among young people? There are three major theoretical perspectives that can be used to illustrate how viewers might learn from such films: uses and gratifications, cultivation, and social cognitive theory. Uses and Gratifications Uses and gratifications is a perspective that focuses on why individuals seek out particular types of media content (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974). The idea is that people bring diverse characteristics to a media encounter and make different choices about what media to consume, therefore exercising control over their media consumption (Katz et al., 1974). Rubin (2002) summarized five assumptions on which this theoretical perspective is based: (1) The use of media is purposive and functional; (2) People choose content based on the ways in which they feel it will satisfy current desires or needs; (3) People bring certain predispositions to their interactions with mass media, which inevitably shape their expectations about the content; (4) Social and psychological conditions, such as interpersonal interactions, tend to help determine how effective media are in satisfying needs and desires; and (5) The reasons people choose media dictate the effects of that use. As a theoretical perspective, uses and gratifications emphasizes audience activity and choice, meaning that people exercise control over their interactions with media. Instead of looking at what media do to individuals, this perspective
focuses on what individuals do with media (Klapper, 1963). There are a number of different motivations that scholars have identified as reasons why people use media. Some of those include: habit, arousal, escapism, learning, interpersonal activity, relaxation, entertainment, reality exploration of personal identity, and a way to pass time (Bryant & Thompson, 2002; Rubin, 2002). Although these gratifications are most often applied to general media consumption, there is evidence that some of these reasons also can explain romantic media use. For example, both men and women report watching romantic dating programs for entertainment purposes (Zurbriggen & Morgan, 2006). In another survey, researchers found that individuals who cheated on their romantic partners and felt regret for doing so were more likely than those who had no regret to express interest in viewing television programs that feature cheating storylines (Nabi, Finnerty, Domschke, & Hull, 2006). In accordance with uses and gratifications, these individuals presumably were interested in watching that type of content because it offered a way for them to explore vicariously facets of their personal identity, in hopes of reducing their feelings of regret. Further evidence of motivated use of romantic media comes from another, more recent study by Knobloch-Westerwick, Hastall, and Rossmann (2009). The researchers assessed selective exposure patterns among partnered and single individuals to determine what types of reading topics were most appealing for these two groups. Reading choices were tracked while the participants ostensibly browsed a new online magazine, with headlines such as ―Relationship & Marriage,‖ ―Health,‖ ―Travel,‖ or ―College & Job.‖ The researchers found that partnered individuals who were unhappy with their romantic relationships spent the least amount of time reading romantic content. The opposite was true for unhappy single respondents: they spent the most time reading about romance. Knobloch-Westerwick and her colleagues concluded that
Social cognitive theory has its roots in social learning theory, which was concerned primarily with the conditions under which children imitated others (Bandura, 1977). Criticisms of the early theory as being too behavioristic led Bandura (1986) to revise his approach so as to incorporate certain cognitive processes in social learning: attention, retention, production, and motivation. In order to learn a behavior, the observer needs to pay close attention to a model‘s activities. Attention is partly dependent on the observer‘s cognitive ability, but it is also influenced by characteristics of the model such as how salient the model is (Bandura, 2002). Retention refers to the process of recoding observed information into a way that the observer can successfully remember the modeled event. Retention is enhanced when the observer is able to remember the modeled event by restructuring the information into accessible memory codes (Bandura, 2002). As for production, Bandura (1986) argued that individuals must be able to transform the observed activity from a mental conception into a behavior. The final step of this process, motivation, refers to the idea that observers do not perform or imitate everything they learn. Certain features can increase or decrease motivation, such as self-reinforcements as well as the reinforcements that an observed model receives for performing the particular behavior (Bandura, 2002). Over the years, research by Bandura and others has documented that there are certain factors that enhance social learning. For example, both children and adults are more likely to pay attention to and imitate models that are perceived as attractive (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963; Hicks, 1965). In addition, individuals are more likely to imitate models that are similar to the self (Bandura, 1986). In one experiment on the effectiveness of anti-alcohol magazine messages, researchers placed college students in groups and asked them to read stories that varied the protagonists‘ level of alcohol consumption (Andsager, Bemker, Choi, & Torwel,
2006). Andsager and colleagues (2006) found that identification with the protagonists in the stories, such as perceived similarity and same level of self-reported alcohol consumption, was positively associated with message effectiveness, or a reported desire not to drink. Another factor that enhances learning is vicarious reinforcements (Bandura, 1986). Viewers are more likely to learn and subsequently be motivated to perform a behavior when that activity is positively reinforced or rewarded than when it is punished (Bandura, 1965). In fact, one of Bandura‘s well-known Bobo doll experiments documented that children would imitate a behavior on screen so long as it was not overtly punished (Bandura, 1965), suggesting that the absence of punishment can sometimes function as a tacit reward. Although these features of SCT could help researchers understand the connection between media exposure and romantic beliefs, there is little research that investigates that potential link. One study, however, suggests that social cognitive theory has merit in this arena. Using in-depth interviews, Bachen and Illouz (1996) talked with young people ranging in age from 8 to 17 years of age to determine whether the media teach children and adolescents about love. The researchers showed participants various magazine photos of couples in dating settings and asked them to indicate which represented ―typical‖ and ―ideal‖ descriptions of romance (Bachen & Illouz, 1996). The participants were consistent in their descriptions, suggesting that there is a cultural model of romance in this country. Moreover, when asked to describe how they learned about love, 90% of the young people said they ―often‖ or ―sometimes‖ encountered love stories in movies. The researchers noted that, ―for them, media and romance are packaged together‖ (p. 292, Bachen & Illouz, 1996), and concluded that a major way young people learn norms about romance is from the images and storylines found in media.
