Content Analysis of Romantic Comedies IN PRESS ...

Content Analysis of Romantic Comedies 2insight into how they themselves could behave in their own relationships. According toBandura (1986, 1994), individuals commit behaviours they have observed to memory inorder to be later used as models on which to base their own behaviour. Observed behavioursare especially likely to be modelled if they are performed by individuals perceived asattractive and if outcomes are viewed as particularly appealing (Bandura, 1994). That is, if anobserved behaviour results in a desired outcome, adolescents may engage in similarbehaviour believing that in doing so they too will gain the same benefits. However, with themedia typically relying on unrealistic portrayals of relationships, it may be that adolescentsmodelling their own behaviour on those seen in the media are unlikely to achieve theobserved desired outcomes.Where social cognitive theory suggests adolescents actively look to the media,cultivation theory suggests the effects of media messages may involve a more passiveprocess. According to Gerbner et al (1994), television has become the primary commonsource of socialisation and everyday information for a heterogeneous population. Through itsuse of repeated themes and images it serves to influence viewer perceptions of reality, that is,viewers exposed over a prolonged period of time to portrayals of reality as defined by themedia may come to develop perceptions that are consistent with these portrayals. Traditionalcultivation theory posits that it is the overall exposure to general media content thatinfluences real world perceptions. However, recent research has suggested that it is notoverall media content but rather genre specific viewing that has a more potent influence onaudiences (e.g. Holmes, 2007; Rössler & Brosius, 2001). Therefore, according to this revisedtheory, viewers exposed to a high level of romance media will come to cultivate beliefs andexpectations of relationships consistent with those particular presentations over heavyviewers of media in general. A major criticism of romantic genre television and films is thatthey frequently portray intimate liaisons between physically beautiful characters (Ward &Rivadeneyra, 1999) leading to relationships full of romance, physical intimacy, passion