I Like Hermione – but I Love Emma Watson: Amicable and Romantic Parasocial Relationships Across Media-Contexts

• In Event: Presence, Parasocial Experience, and Narratives

Abstract

Whereas a lot of insights on parasocial phenomena across different media exists, there is still a lack of research concerning a comparison between those types of media. The current study goes towards closing the presented research gap with new findings based on a 2x1 experiment (N = 192) examining romantic and amicable parasocial relationships (PSR) in books versus movies and television. Media characters from movies and television were perceived to be physically more attractive than media characters from books which in turn led to more intensive romantic PSR. In contrast, the assumed dominance of media characters from books with regard to mental attractiveness was only marginally significant, although the positive link between mental attractiveness and amicable PSR was supported by the data. Briefly summarized, PSR in books are rather of an amicable nature, whereas PSR in television and movies can rather be classified as romantic parasocial phenomena.

Authors

• Nicole Liebers, Universität Würzburg

• Nico Anken, U of Würzburg

• Isabelle Gaertner, U of Würzburg