Mary Beth Oliver

Who they are

Mary Beth Oliver is known on this site through two papers on how audiences respond to film and other entertainment. One was written with Anne Bartsch, the other with Arthur A. Raney.

Key papers

Appreciation as audience response (2010). Oliver and Bartsch propose appreciation as a gratification complementary to enjoyment. Across three studies, especially of serious, poignant and pensive films, they support a measure of appreciation alongside fun and suspense, and alongside moving and thought-provoking experiences. All of these were linked to perceived enduring effects. The paper appeared in Human Communication Research, volume 36, issue 1.

Hedonic and eudaimonic motives for entertainment (2011). Oliver and Raney developed measures of hedonic motives, which concern pleasure, and eudaimonic motives, which concern meaning and truth-seeking. Four studies supported the validity of the measures, and the motives predicted a preference for entertainment that produces distinct emotional experiences. The paper appeared in the Journal of Communication, volume 61, issue 5.

Key ideas

The common thread is that liking is not the only way to value a film or a story. A viewer can come away from a sad film not entertained in the ordinary sense, yet glad to have seen it, because it was meaningful or made them think.

The second paper moves from the response to the motive. People differ in whether they go to entertainment looking for pleasure or looking for meaning, and those motives predict what they choose. The article on sad films draws on both ideas.

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