Consumers' identification and beyond: Attraction, reverence, and escapism in the evaluation of films

✍ Scribed by Michela Addis; Morris B. Holbrook

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 143 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0742-6046
• DOI: 10.1002/mar.20359

✦ Synopsis

Secondary real-world data on evaluations by the general public of the 440 movies ever nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award are used to explore the role of female/male consumers' identification with the leading actress/actor in determining judgments of motion picture excellence. Beyond identification, age-and gender-based similarities with other movie components-namely, the leading oppositegender star, the director, and the setting-underlie other potential psychological mechanisms relevant to explaining the evaluations of films. Contrary to expectations, the findings indicate that identification with the same-gender, same-age leading star plays no significant role. Conversely, younger opposite-gender leading stars, older directors, and unfamiliar temporal settings contribute to favorable evaluations-thereby supporting the hypotheses of romantic attraction as a source of star power; reverence toward more mature directors; and an eagerness to escape from ordinary life, respectively.