viewers are more adherent to films that put alcohol on screen, according to a study published in the online journal Alcoholism: clinical and experimental research.
The Hangover, Project X, Las Vegas Parano… there are many films where alcohol consumption plays an essential role in the narrative framework. Yet very often, alcohol does not need to be at the center of the plot to be present in the cinema, without necessarily noticing it: in “80 to 95% of cases, alcohol is represented in films, most of the time in a positive or glamorous way, ”explains Marloes Kleinjan, assistant professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen (the Netherlands).
For her, as for many researchers, the cinema could have a big influence on our attitude towards alcohol: “Exposure to alcohol in the media – including movies, commercials, but also social networks like Facebook – can encourage young people to drink. Since movie characters can be seen as role models by young people, the way these characters consume alcohol in movies can impact young people’s attitudes towards alcohol in real life. », Explains the researcher.
The social function of alcohol
This position is known. What we didn’t know was the impact that alcohol – and the way it is portrayed – can have on our appreciation of a movie! Researchers from Radboud University therefore made 159 students (84 men and 75 women between 18 and 30 years old) participate in an experiment. Eight clips were shown to them, some with scenes where alcohol was represented (positively or negatively) others not.
The adherence, that is, how absorbed the viewer is by the story, of the participants and their appreciation of the film were then measured. The results are impressive: “The participants were more” transported “by the film and evaluated it more positively when there was presence of alcohol”, notes Renske Koordeman, one of the authors of the study. Specifically, “the participants were more transported by films that portrayed alcohol in a negative way, but they appreciated a film more when alcohol was shown in a positive way,” continues Renske Koordeman.
How to explain these reactions? ” In Western culture, moderate alcohol consumption has a social function, ”Marloes Kleinjan analyzes. This can serve as a social vector, and has many positive consequences, such as reducing social anxiety, and facilitating interpersonal communication. Additionally, most people drink alcohol, which makes it normative behavior, especially in social situations like parties. So not showing alcohol consumption in situations where it would be expected gives the impression that the film is less realistic ”. This would therefore explain why the presence of alcohol results in better spectator adhesion.
Negative events have a stronger impact
In addition, the group tested, of students, are more inclined to drink alcohol, and feel more engaged by a film depicting alcohol. Finally, the researchers rely on the “negative bias theory” which shows that negative events have a stronger impact than positive events: alcohol represented in a negative, tragic manner would attract the attention of participants more than its positive representation.
The findings of this study are only the first step in research into the consequences of the presence of alcohol in movies. It remains to be seen what the consequences are in terms of spectator behavior.
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