March 26, 2012 @ 5:30pm, Neely Dinning Hall
Guest lecturer: Dr. Jennings Bryant
Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama
The presentation begins by posing two questions that are essential to conceptualizing the entertainment process: Why do we watch, read, listen to, or play that which we choose” and “what does this process do for us and to us psychologically and culturally?”
The importance of entertainment in modern life is displayed by the production, consumption, and expenditures on contemporary popular culture, and utilizes a brief overview of the history of the study of entertainment to help frame its role in media psychology today.
Other questions Dr. Bryant will answer include:
- Is the process of entertainment fundamentally different in the digital era than in was in previous ages?
- Do media consumers typically make psychologically beneficial choices in choosing media fare?
- How multidimensional is the entertainment process?
- What is the role of moral judgment in entertainment? …of character? …of suspense? …of audience disposition?
Many of the answers to these questions show how theory and research have contributed to the current state of our understanding of the entertainment experience.
Seminar contact: Sarita Stewart (sarita.stewart@belmont.edu) Co-sponsored by Communication Studies, Media Studies, and the Mike Curb College. March 26, 2012 @ 5:30pm, Neely Dinning Hall
