Modeling the antihero narrative enjoyment process.

Abstract

Over the past decade, entertainment scholars have extended affective disposition theory beyond traditional hero narratives to better understand the enjoyment of antihero narratives. This study builds upon and unifies this work through the development of a generalized model of the antihero narrative enjoyment process. Participants (n ϭ 234) viewed 1 of the 3 feature-length antihero films. The findings revealed a consistent enjoyment model that highlights the role of the individual-difference variable willingness to accept violence as a predictor of situational moral disengagement, leading to character identification and liking, which in turn predicted enjoyment. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that identification seems to be the process through which we build dispositions toward an antihero character, rather than moral judgments, extending previous research on the role of identification for antihero enjoyment. Public Policy Relevance StatementThe current study helps to better understand how we can enjoy narratives that feature a morally ambiguous main character (antiheroes). Whereas usually, we would condemn a character that acts immorally (e.g., acts violently, lies, steals, etc.), the study shows that we justify the immoral actions so we can identify with the main character, which then allows us to enjoy the narrative. Compared with traditional hero narratives, identification seems to play a crucial role when it comes to the enjoyment of antiheroes.

The Effect of Fantasy Context on Moral Action and Judgment

“…We focused specifically on moral judgment; absent was a measure of liking for the character who was committing said behavior, which would have further elaborated the influence of context on views of characters who behave badly. Future research incorporating the role that fantasy content may play in moral disengagement (e.g., Janicke & Raney, 2018;Krakowiak & Tsay-Vogel, 2013;Sanders & Tsay-Vogel, 2016) and Affective Disposition Theory (e.g., Raney, 2004Raney, , 2017Zillman & Cantor, 1977;Zillmann, 2000) could be fruitful. Future studies that incorporate established fictional characters would also be interesting; much has been discussed about characters such as Walter White, Frank Underwood, and Tony Soprano (e.g., Salgaro & Van Tourhout, 2018;Vaage, 2015), all of whom live in realistic story worlds; however, it would be interesting to see if even more moral latitude is given to characters in fantasy contexts, such as those on Game of Thrones.…”

“…Moral disengagement (Bandura, 1999(Bandura, , 2006, a process by which one avoids moral agency by denying that a harm has been committed or justifying immoral behavior, has been documented as a mechanism that leads to the enjoyment of immoral fictional characters (Janicke & Raney, 2018;Krakowiak & Tsay-Vogel, 2013;Sanders & Tsay-Vogel, 2016). In fiction, no real harms are committed, and there are no real victims; this provides the reader fictional relief, freeing them from considering the consequences of actions unfolding before them (Vaage, 2013) and allowing the audience to focus more on emotion, rather than rational thought in evaluating moral actions (Vaage, 2015).…”

The dark side of antiheroes: Antisocial tendencies and affinity for morally ambiguous characters.

“…Although aggressive tendencies seem intuitively relevant to antihero affinities and have been found to correlate with DT traits (Barlett, 2016), the closest individual difference that has been assessed as a predictor of antihero narrative appeal is "acceptance of violence" (i.e., perceiving violence as a legitimate and natural behavior in the context of social interaction, Janicke & Raney, 2017). Participants watched one of three films featuring an antihero, defined narrowly as "a male protagonist acting in a vigilante way to right some perceived wrong while also attempting to ensure This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

“…The currently ubiquitous antihero—defined loosely as a “morally complex” protagonist whose “actions range on a continuum from good to bad, in contrast with clearly moral heroes and clearly immoral villains” (Janicke & Raney, 2017, p. 534)—has received recent attention in the field of media psychology (Janicke & Raney, 2017; Krakowiak, 2015; Krakowiak & Oliver, 2012; Oliver et al, 2019; Sanders & Tsay-Vogel, 2016; Shafer & Raney, 2012; Snyder et al, 2019). Researchers have typically operationalized antiheroes as lone wolf-style vigilantes who use callous methods to fight more traditional “bad guys” (e.g., Dexter in Dexter— forensic analyst by day, serial killer of murderers by night).…”

“…Finally, MD has also been found to correlate with DT traits (Egan et al, 2015) and has been conceptualized as a key ingredient with respect to enjoying antihero characters and genres; thus, it seems critical to examine this general tendency among viewers. To our knowledge, the closest assessment of this kind comes from Janicke and Raney’s (2017) examination of enjoyment of antihero films. They included a single-item (pre-exposure) variable on “the importance of moral principles” (i.e., “You should only act when you are sure that it’s morally correct,” p. 5).…”