A case study of humour interest

Subtitle:entertainment experiences of entertainment-education television programmes

Departing from the research on entertainment experiences, entertainment- education and comedy studies, this dissertation contains the results of five research studies on the destigmatizing outcomes of watching hybrid television programmes about minorities. The research on entertainment-education and narrative persuasion has long established that entertaining elements contribute value to narratives, and can support those narratives in their potential to persuade the audience to change their attitudes, beliefs or even behaviour. Alongside the work done in those areas, the study of entertainment has evolved over recent decades, questioning the idea of entertainment as only pleasurable or fun. Especially in the case of media entertainment, recent developments have allowed us to consider how and why people consume entertainment content for experiences beyond enjoyment alone. The main research purpose of this dissertation was to study the role that entertainment experiences play in the prosocial outcomes of watching hybrid television that merges humour and human-interest (humour interest) about several minority outgroups. In this dissertation, a multi-perspective approach is taken by combining different methodological and theoretical approaches to one case study, namely Taboe (2018). The dissertation studies this phenomenon of hybrid humor and human-interest on the level of production, text, the audience’s entertainment experiences and the potential effects on that audience, and provides additional to these insights by considering them within the context of both public service media and comedy about minorities. Overall, the research in this dissertation shows that entertainment experiences of humour interest are crucial to understanding its potential prosocial and destigmatizing outcomes. By doing so, it contributes to the research fields of public service media, television studies, entertainment- education, and media psychology. That being said, the potential of humour interest does come with certain considerations, which are discussed in the form of recommendations for future programme makers and broadcasters who hope to contribute to the increased qualitative representation of minorities and stigmatized groups on Flemish television.

Publication year:2022

Keywords:Doctoral thesis

Accessibility:Open