How Fantasy Becomes Reality: Information and Entertainment Media in Everyday Life, Revised and Expanded

289 Pages·2015·2.973 MB·English

by  Karen E. Dill-Shackleford

How Fantasy Becomes Reality

How Fantasy Becomes Reality
Information and Entertainment
Media in Everyday Life
REVISED AND EXPANDED
KAREN E. DILL-SHACKLEFORD
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dill-Shackleford, Karen, 1969–
How fantasy becomes reality : information and entertainment media
in everyday life / Karen E. Dill-Shackleford. — Revised and expanded.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–023929–9
1. Mass media—Social aspects. 2. Mass media—Psychological aspects.
3. Social psychology. I. Title.
HM1206.D55 2015
302.23—dc23
2015013950
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For my students

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. Fantasy and Reality: A Primer on Media and Social Construction 1
2. Fandom, Fantasy, and Reality 31
3. Old and New Media in Everyday Life: From TV to Social Media 59
4. Media Violence 87
5. Representations of Social Groups in Media: Race, Gender,
and Beyond 113
6. Advertising, Consumerism, and Health 141
7. Media and Social Identity 165
8. The Social Psychology of Political Coverage 189
9. From the Passenger’s Seat to the Driver’s Seat 219
Notes 237
Index 253

PREFACE
Welcome to the second edition of How Fantasy Becomes Reality. I wrote the
original in 2008 and as I sit down to write this, it is now the fall of 2015. A lot
has happened in the media landscape and in my life between then and now.
In terms of the media landscape, the changes have continued to come fast
and furious. My son Jason, a teenager now, keeps me up to date on what’s pop-
ular with his friends. We’ve spent time watching funny Vines and YouTube
videos on his iPad, like one of his current favorites called Super Café, which
involves scenes of Batman and Superman chatting over coffee. My daughter
Regan and I watch cat videos, laugh, and make “angry cat” noises together.
My son Jason has started high school and my daughter Regan is finishing
up elementary school. Since 2008, I also got divorced and then remarried,
hence the name change. My husband Lee Shackleford, whom I’ve known now
for nearly 25 years, is a playwright, screenwriter, and a college professor. He’s
brought so much joy and adventure to my life.
When I wrote the first edition of How Fantasy Becomes Reality, I was just
finishing more than 10 years of undergraduate teaching and a great deal of
speaking about media violence. I cannot tell you how tired I was of people
telling me that what they watch has zero percent influence on their lives. The
disdain and emotional energy with which people said this to me on a regular
basis was starting to get under my skin. I couldn’t believe that many people
did not understand the simple idea that what you consume becomes part of
your psyche. Not that it’s always a simple maneuver and not that media are just
like pills we take with single outcomes, but that the messages we think about
become part of us in some way.
Now, leading up to the second edition, as a professor at Fielding Graduate
University in Santa Barbara, California, I have taught only adult graduate stu-
dents for five years. I’ve done new and exciting research. I also edited the Oxford