Zillmann, Dolf
Vorderer, Peter
2000
Media Entertainment: The Psychology of its Appeal

vi
“In fact, entertainment offerings obtrusively dominate media content and are bound to do so in the foreseeable future. This circumstance, together with the apparent growing public demand on entertainment provisions, lend equal justification to characterizing the present times as the ‘entertainment age.'”

vif
“More systematic inquiry is necessary to determine what it is that people deem gratifying and that brings about desired experiential states. The entertainment needs of vastly diverse audiences with vastly diverse intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional interests will have to be explored with increasing care and rigor. Most importantly, however, more attention, in terms of both theory and research, must be directed at understanding the basic mechanisms of enlightenment from, and emotional involvement with, the various forms of entertainment. As yet to be comprehended fully are, for instance, the means of making people laugh and cry, feel the sadness and happiness of others, share their terror and triumph, or simply, of generating calming or thrilling sensations and experiences of serenity or elation. It is astounding, in fact, how little genuine scholarship and basic research has addressed questions as fundamental as exactly what it is that gives comedy the power to make people laugh and tragedy the power to make them cry. It is also far from clear how it can be possible that mere spectators feel triumphant or depressed when seeing athletic competition between others go one way or the other, or, what empowers music to make listeners shudder or feel glorious.”

vii
“Fortunately, a more systematic exploration of media entertainment is beginning. Psychologists, sociologists, and communication scholars, in particular, have begun to replace speculations with meticulous assessments of the content and usage of many forms of entertainment and their effects on different types of people, ultimately, of their consequences for society. For the first time, the primary function of media entertainment – namely, attainment of gratification – takes center stage in this exploration. Specific theories have been proposed to elucidate issues of emotionality and enjoyment, and numerous research demonstrations have been published to clarify the appeal of all conceivable genres and subgenres of media offerings.”