Messaris, Paul

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  • Publication
  • Publication
    The Film Audience's Awareness of the Production Process
    (1981) Messaris, Paul
    Christian Metz once argued that, of all the arts, film is the most capable of creating an illusion of reality in the audience's mind.l It is certainly true that any movie whose chief aim is to provide vicarious experience whether of romance, adventure, horror or whatever-depends precisely on the medium's ability to make the viewer forget about scripts, directors, production crews, and all other elements of "behind-the-scenes" manipulation. On the other hand, there are many circumstances in which a viewer's obliviousness to these aspects of a film probably contradicts the intentions of the film's creators. For example, a director who lavishes special attention on visual composition would no doubt be disappointed if viewers treated the images on the screen as random slices of reality. More seriously, perhaps, a viewer who loses sight of the deliberate ordering behind a movie's sequence of events is also likely to have an incomplete understanding of the implications of that movie. For these reasons, it is important to know what kind of interpretive frame of mind viewers typically bring to movies. To what extent can the filmmaker assume that audiences will be aware of his or her presence, and what kinds of circumstances are likely to heighten or diminish this awareness?
  • Publication
    Visual Intelligence and Analogical Thinking
    (1997) Messaris, Paul
  • Publication
    Work Status, Television Exposure, and Educational Outcomes
    (1983) Messaris, Paul; Hornik, Robert
  • Publication
    Visual Literacy and Visual Culture
    (1995) Messaris, Paul
  • Publication
    Family Conversations About Television
    (1983-06-01) Messaris, Paul
    This is an examination of two kinds of conversations that parents and children sometimes have about television programs: first, conversations in which parents and children seek and/or exchange information about some aspect of reality portrayed or referred to on television; second, conversations in which family members discuss the appropriateness or inappropriateness of behavior shown or mentioned on television as a model for their own or other people's conduct. Examples taken from an observational study of families watching television in their homes are used to illustrate some of the forms these conversations can take, and, on the basis of these illustrations and of some previous research, speculations are offered about the role such conversations might play in family members' developing relationships to one another and to the “outside” world.
  • Publication
    TV-Related Mother-Child Interaction and Children's Perceptions of TV Characters
    (1984) Messaris, Paul; Kerr, Dennis
    How does a parent’s or other adult’s involvement in a child’s TV viewing influence that child's responses to television? Much of the evidence on this question comes from experimental research. It has been shown that adult commentary can inhibit or intensify children’s imitative responses to a visual medium; that mothers’ comments can counteract children’s tendencies to follow the dictates of a TV commercial; and that adult commentary can enhance children’s comprehension of a TV program, as well as their retention of information and values presented on TV. Furthermore, studies in which mothers were merely encouraged to sit with their children (with no specific instructions as to what to say to them) while they were watching television have indicated that children learn more from the medium under such circumstances.
  • Publication
    Visual Literacy vs. Visual Manipulation
    (1994-06-01) Messaris, Paul
  • Publication
    Visual Communication: Theory and Research
    (2003-01-01) Messaris, Paul
    As an organized subarea of academic communication scholarship, the study of visual communication is relatively new. For instance, at this writing, visual communication has not yet attained regular division status in either the International Communication Association or the National Communication Association. However, interest in visual issues appears to be growing among communication scholars, and the two books under review are part of a rapidly expanding literature (e.g., Barnard, 2001; Emmison & Smith, 2000; Evans & Hall, 1999; Helfand, 2001; Howells, 2002; Mirzoeff, 1999; Prosser, 1998; Rose, 2001; Thomas, 2000). As it seeks to differentiate itself from other scholarly areas with similar purviews (such as mass communication or cultural studies), the study of visual communication is increasingly confronted with two major issues. First, on a theoretical level, visually oriented scholars need to develop a sharper understanding of the distinctions among the major modes of communication (image, word, music, body display, etc.) and a clearer appreciation of the specific role that each plays in social processes. Second, on the research front, there is a need for more sophisticated ways of exploring visual meanings and investigating viewers' responses to images. Taken together, the two books reviewed here touch upon both of these features of visual scholarship and make productive contributions with respect to each of them.
  • Publication
    How to Make Money From Subliminal Advertising and Motivation Research
    (2013-01-01) Messaris, Paul
    The news media began to report and editorialize about subliminal advertising in 1957, in response to events that are recounted in detail in Swift Viewing: The Popular Life of Subliminal Viewing, Charles Acland’s (2012) excellent history of the idea of subliminal influence (p. 91ff). Those events have been described by several previous writers, but one of the many virtues of Acland’s book is that he gives us the most carefully documented account to date.