The digital advancement allows the availability of information from various means and such information can significantly affect the decision-making process of an individual. Studies have been done to dig deeper into the impact of mainstream media on the audience’s pro-environmental behaviours. To partially contribute to this cause, this research surrounds the presentation of factory farming in documentaries and fictional films and how such exposure can potentially lead to behavioral changes from the audience.
Firstly, please watch this video for the report on the findings:
the scope of research
- viewers’ prior, existing perceptions about factory farming
The existing knowledge about the issue is found to be important for the audience’s experience with the nature documentaries (Arendt & Matthes 2016, p. 446). However, this is not applied to only nature topic, since Rodan & Mummery, who studied the effect of Animal Australia’s campaign, reconfirmed the impact of pre-existing exposure to factory farming (2016). They found out the previous experience with the media presentation of the issue create a background for the audience to reflect and compare when being exposed to another media campaign of the same topic (Rodan & Mummery 2016 p. 380). Hence, it is crucial to look into the participants’ knowledge of industrial practices of raising livestock prior to this research project.
- The combining effect of fictions and documentaries
Fictional films, as literal as its name, are movies that tell imaginary narratives. Because of its characteristic, fictions are free from the limitation of the truth. Although the message is inspired by reality, it can be portrayed with exaggeration, dramatized details and/or within unrealistic contexts. It is also due to this nature that the audience tend to separate what they’ve seen from reality.
Documentaries, in contrast with fictions, are non-fictional motions that record some particular aspects of reality. This genre is bound to the truth, but it can still evoke emotions and potentially influence the viewers’ behaviours. When communicating via visuals, messages that focus on the consequences are suggested to be more persuasive than those that discuss the benefits of actions, though it can be a good complementing factor (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith 1999, cited by Sheppard 2005). The template used for a documentary is found to correspond with this suggestion, especially ones that portray ongoing problematic issues. It starts with presenting the current condition of one issue to showcase its severity which is followed by a suggested solution or an encouragement, inspiration to act.
Acknowledging the unique natures of both genres, the question of whether they can complement each other to create a bigger impact on the audience is raised. As fiction is able to humanize animals, make their feelings more apparent and aims to generate strong emotion for the audience, the documentary can help link such portrayal with reality by providing evidence from true events. Moreover, a strong emotional experience is found to be crucial in the formation of the audience’s commitment to everyday activism (Rodan & Mummery 2016, p. 384), and this statement confirmed the role of fictions in shaping behaviours. Even though Okja is a fictional film, it is evident that the scenes of the factory were found to resemble reality. This, as a result, will potentially create a greater impact when the audience reflect and compare.
photos that prove the resemblance between scenes in Okja and real industrial farming practicesResult Analysis
In terms of the participants’ pre-existing knowledge of the factory farming issues, both of them were given a survey before watching the films, asking about this particular matter. Before this research, the participants were already exposed to this topic, with Mai’s experience was via visual communication namely Netflix and Youtube, whereas Tanmayi became to know of factory farming via documentaries, another visual medium. While being asked to judge their knowledge about the issue on the scale of 1-5, both participants scored themselves a 3, which is slightly above average. Additionally, with this perceived level of knowledge, they both found themselves taking different paths of action. For Mai, being exposed to such information did influence her but only in a short amount of time, as her current financial condition has to be prioritized. On the other hand, Tan found herself not taking any action accordingly, since the information wasn’t in-depth enough to made such a decision. These two answers also explain their self-assessment on the urge to act (Mai-4 & Tanmayi-3.5)
Discussing the influence level of their existing knowledge about factory farming, it definitely enhances their experience with the two films. Mai stated that the two films reaffirmed the severity of this particular issue. Although she went back to her old habit of consuming meat, the two films, with the support of her background knowledge, have still left an awareness concerning industrial farming at ‘the back of her mind’. On the other hand, the connection between Tanmayi’s existing knowledge and her reaction to the films remained vague. Regardless, she confirmed the effect of mainstream media on changing the consumers’ attitude and buying habits, believing that constant reminder from the media can help her to stay committed.
It can be seen from the video that they were affected by Okja and Eating Animal since changes in their meat consumption habits were noticed from both individuals. However, Mai, once again, repeated the pattern of only a short-term behavioural change. This is because the cost is still one of the foremost priorities when it comes to buying decisions. Meanwhile, Eating Animal, in particular, has taken a toll on Tanmayi’s mentality, causing drastic changes in her behaviours. Despite her drastic changes, however, she believed that she would go back to her old habits of consuming meat, due the availability, affordability and her current condition as a student.
These findings support the conclusion that behavioural changes are often difficult and require a collaborative effort of various criteria. DiSalvo discusses reasons why changing the behavior is often difficult, which then suggests that such changes require positive motivation, time, right methods and commitment (2017). In an article explaining why vegetarians go back to eating meat, one of the reasons that resonate with both of the participants is that people find it difficult to find high-quality vegetarian products that are reasonably priced (Herzog, 2011). It has been mentioned that apart from being exposed to media, their contributors also had related experience from both childhoods and adult such as working at the abattoirs (Rodan & Mummery 2016, p. 383). The fact that the participants lack hands-on experience suggested a theory that direct, personal involvement can be an important factor in shaping the audience’s behaviours.
In terms of whether there is a combining effect between the two genres, both participants gave rather different answers but still support this claim. Mai found Okja to be depictive, and she stressed that it was the connection between Okja and Mija, that created deeper feelings of sadness when she watched Eating Animal. She imagined that if such a strong connection is developed with one of the chickens in the documentary, it would be extremely heartbroken to see how cruelly it is treated in the factory. Mai was also more impressed with the documentary, only after being exposed to the exaggerated context of factory farming in Okja, because Eating Animal provided her with a solution so that she can act upon this situation. On the other hand, Tanmayi, despite admitting that Okja was a beautiful movie, it was the fictional nature that makes her neglect the actual severity of factory farming. Such exposure, however, still has an emotional effect on her and provides Tanmayi with information to reflect and compare. Eating Animal was the determining point where she finally acknowledged the actual situation and, consequently, generated changes in her buying habit.
Another notable and rather an implicit finding was the fact that the participants didn’t mention about the environmental harms demonstrated in Eating Animal. It is said that an individual, instead of passively perceiving the motion picture, would take what is usable for him in real life (Fearing 1947, p. 70), which can be a possible explanation for this finding. Another potential answer is that animal cruelty is the only part that is highlighted by both Okja and Eating Animal and, hence, can lead to the participants only focusing on this specific problem involving factory farming.
Limitations & Conclusions
Even though the scope of the research has been answered, this research still has its own implications. Due to limited resources, only two participants were observed and, therefore, the findings from this research cannot represent the whole entire issue being examined. Additionally, that the participants only focused on the animal cruelty issue of factory farming wasn’t covered in the interview, which leads to the lack of official answers and reflection from the participants on this particular finding.
“the film may be regarded as a means through which the individual understands himself, his social role, and the values of his group. It is also a means by which the individual orients himself in a universe of events which appear to occur haphazardly and chaotically” – Fearing, 1947.
Confirmations of the effect of films on an individual’s attitude and action can be trait back to as early as 1947. The results from this research indicated that films could indeed generate strong emotions towards the issue but were only able to evoke short-term changes in the audience’s meat consumption habits. This is due to the fact that there’re other factors to be prioritized when it comes to deciding what to buy, such as an individual’s financial condition and the availability of the product. Additionally, the process of changing one’s behaviour requires time, positive motivation, the right method, and commitment (DiSalvo, 2017). Hence, offering a proper method for the audience can be recommended for filmmakers when aiming to change their behaviors via filmographic presentation. Finally, fictions and documentaries are confirmed to have a complementing effect on the audience’s behaviours, confirming their roles as contributors in affecting the audience’s attitudes and, eventually, changing their actions. With a constant effort, behavioural changes can be achieved via mainstream media.
References
Arendt, F & Matthes, J 2016, ‘Nature Documentaries, Connectedness to Nature, and Pro-environmental Behavior’, Environmental Communication, vol. 10, no.4, pp. 453-472
DiSalvo, D 2017, ‘8 Reasons Why It’s so Hard to Really Change Your Behavior’, Psychology today, weblog post, 22 July, viewed by 3 June 2019, https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/neuronarrative/201707/8-reasons-why-its-so-hard-really-change-your-behavior>
Fearing, F 1947, ‘Influence of the Movies on Attitudes and Behavior’, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 254, pp. 70-79
Herzog, H 2011, ‘Why Do Most Vegetarians Go Back To Eating Meat?’, Psychology Today, weblog post, 20 Jun, viewed by 4 June 2019, <https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/animals-and-us/201106/why-do-most-vegetarians-go-back-eating-meat>
Rodan, D & Mummery, J 2016, ‘Doing animal welfare activism everyday: questions of identity’, Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 381-396
Sheppard, SRJ 2005, ‘Landscape visualisation and climate change: the potential
for influencing perceptions and behaviour’, Environmental Science & Policy, Vol. 8, pp. 637-654
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