Media Preferences of Russian Students

This work was supported by the Research Support Scheme of the Open Society Support Foundation, grant N 18/2000

What are the cinema and TV preferences of Russian students today? What films and TV shows of which countries do they like to watch most of all? What genres, subjects do they like? My interrogation took place in the Taganrog Pedagogical Institute (Russia): 370 students between of the age of 18 and 20 were questioned.

The structure of the questions was chosen as follows: the questions about favorite countries filmmakers, genres and subjects go first. The logic of the consistency is as follows: knowing the country film-maker (for example, the USA), which is preferred by a student, and chosen from the real cinema repertoire, we may suppose, what genres (most probably, the entertaining ones) are chosen by a student. Knowing the genre-favorite (for example, melodrama), we can build the hypothesis concerning the favorite and unloved subjects of this student. Among the favorite subjects, as a rule, are love subject, teenage subject, and erotic subject. Among the unloved – are political and industrial subjects. Knowing the genre and a subject, chosen by students, the attractive for them aspects of the films and TV shows can be predicted. In the example case, there are not only the recreative motive, but also the media and identification's motives. And knowing the main motives of the choice of the film of or TV program, we can cozily guess, the heroes of what screen arts' works and with what features of character will be chosen. And if, for example, a student is orientated on the American thrillers first of all, if he prefers brave and strong heroes, then he will answer, for sure, that the main function of the screen art is the entertaining one.

So, the basic purposes of the questions of the test:

a) to define the films and TV-programs of what countries, genres and subjects are the most popular;

b) to discover the main factors, influencing the choice of students of these or others genres and subjects (entertainment, happy end, dynamic action, etc.);

c) to discover the main types and features of characters of the cinema-TV- heroes which are preferred by students;

d) to find out, what functions of the cinema, TV and video are considered to be the most important by students;

On the whole, in the capacity of preferences the cinematographies of those countries were called, which, basing on the viewers' experience   of the students produced maximum of the entertainment production, that is I've got another confirmation of the popularity of mass culture genres.

The list of preferences looked like this:

Film, TV programs from the USA - 81,3% (301 students from 370).

Film, TV programs from Russia - 72,15%(267 from 370).

Film, TV programs from France - 63,2% (234 from 370).

Film, TV programs from Italy -   27,8% (103 from 370).

Film, TV programs from India -   17,8% (66 from 370).

The results of the tests also showed that the students on the whole prefer the genres of mass (popular) culture. Besides, because of the changes of the social & cultural situation in Russia in the 90's, horror films, erotic melodramas took the considerable place in the students’ preferences.

The list of the preferable cinema genres:

1) comedy              - 74,3% (275 students from 370);

2) synthesis of genres - 56,5% (211 from 370);

3) melodrama         - 55,9% (207 from 370);

4) detective            - 49,4% (183 from 370);

5) horror                - 32,9% (122 from 370).

As for the drama, parable and other unentertaining genres, the lesser number of students marked them as preferable: from 5% to 13%.

Among the most popular subjects of films and TV programs marked by the students are:

1) love subject - 65,9% (244 students from 370);

2) adventure subject - 64,3% (238 from 370);

3) historic subject   - 51,1% (189 from 370);

4) teenage subject  - 46,4% (172 from 370);

5) criminal subject  - 42,1% (156 from 370);

6) pedagogic subject - 31,6% (117 from 370);

7) erotic subject     - 30,8% (114 from 370);

8) moral subject     - 26,4% ( 98 from 370);

9) mystical subject - 18,6% ( 69 from 370);

10) contemporary subject - 16,4% ( 61 from 370).

The least popular subjects were scientifically technical, geographical, political, ecological (from 3% to 8% of the students tested).

Basing on the genre and subject orientation, students answered that in films, TV programs, music-videos they are attracted by:

1) entertainment           - 87,5% (324 students from 370);

2) information               - 69,4% (257 from 370);

3) identification             - 53,5% (198 from 370);

4) pop-music                 - 43,7% (162 from 370);

5) acting                        - 38,6% (143 from 370);

6) directing art                - 36,4% (135 from 370);

7) dynamics of action      - 21,8% ( 81 from 370);

8) compensation             - 21,6% ( 80 from 370);

9) happy end                  - 18,3% ( 68 from 370);

10) good picture              - 16,4% ( 61 from 370).

The leadership of the entertaining, informative and identification functions of the screen arts with the students are rather natural and is well correlated with their genre and subject preferences. And relatively high rating of the director and actor's work testifies that all students, who made such a choice, really, are close to the all-round perception of a film or TV program. In my opinion, the well -known cliché' comes into force there: if the show was interesting (mainly for its entertaining components), therefore everything must have been performed perfectly.

The students marked in the heroes they liked: fascination (67%), mind (65%), resourcefulness (54%), resolution (42%), kindness (42%), beauty (35%), courage (32%), faithfulness (32%), purpose (27%), optimism (32%), power (22%).

By this facts the tendency characteristic of the answers on the previous was proved: the heroes of the entertaining, adventure, love films and TV-shows are chosen in general.

The students would like to resemble their favorite heroes in the attitude to people (38%), in the view to life (22%), in the behavior (19%), in profession (19%), and in the manner of dressing (5%). The low percent of the students who answered this question is explained by the fact that a lot of them considered it are out of place, just for kids.

Speaking about TV programs and music videos, we can't but mention that TV programs with the weak show and weak dynamics of action were obviously losing in the eyes of the students to the programs about pop-music, film stars, comic shows and so on.

As for the criterions of the aesthetic development of the students' audience in the area of the cinema and TV, my research confirmed the correctness of the followings facts:

1) the understanding criterion (the knowledge of history and theory of the screen arts) of the students who didn't study the special course of screen arts was practically absent;

2) the sensory criterion (the frequency of the association with the screen arts, the skill to take orientation in their stream) was reduced to the genre-subject choice of entertaining films and TV programs. In other words, the frequent communication with the screen, itself doesn't lead to the formation of the developed aesthetic taste. The number of students, for whom the draw of a media-screen in the audiovisual floods of information, was (for example, the name of a famous 3%-5%.

3) criterion of the motivation (the emotional, hedonistic, compensative, moral, aesthetic and other motives of the contact with the screen arts) expressed itself the fact, that the main motive to see a film or TV show was the entertainment;

4) the appraisal, interpretative criterion was badly developed. The majority of the students, though it had the emotional, psychological connection with the screen atmosphere, with the plot of the film and TV show ("the first identification"), with a hero or a showman ("the second identification"), but

was unable for the "complex identification". That is, for the identification with the author of film of TV program, full perception and analysis of the artistic conception of the authors' world.

5) the creative criterion of the students (the level of the creative basis in the different aspects of the activity) often turned out to be more developed than the appraising one. A lot of students, who had been on the level of "n", proved to be able for the figurative reflection on their impressions after films or telecasts: they drew cinema-posters, collages and so on. In these works their fantasy, imagination and intuition were opened.

Such tests and researches, I usually make before the beginning of the course "The Student's Training for the Aesthetic Education of Pupils on the Material of Screen Arts (Cinema, TV, Video)", every time mentioning the resemblance of the results.

With the different percent correlations, the tendency to entertaining subjects and genres, the low level of the ability of students to analyze the advantage and disadvantage of the film or TV program in the artistic point of view, remains. Therefore we can say that the situation in the sphere of student perception and attitude to the screen arts is typical.