How It Ends
Exploring How Narrative Closure and Character Outcomes in Series Finales Relate to Viewer Responses and Coping Behaviors
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12749045 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K Maja Krakowiak (0000-0001-9409-4340, University of Colorado System, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1028-1055 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-21 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Mass Communication & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1520-5436 • E-ISSN: 1532-7825 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/15205436.2024.2344515 |
| OpenAlex | W4398190876 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 68 |
Series finales garner much attention and discussion from viewers and the press, yet few studies have examined what makes finales satisfying. According to affective disposition theory (ADT) the outcomes that characters experience will predict audience gratifications; however, little is known about what other factors may affect responses to finales. An online questionnaire (N = 840) was administered to explore the associations between character outcomes and perceived narrative closure with affective responses (positive and meaningful), emotional distress (depression, anger, and anxiety), enjoyment, and appreciation, and to determine how these factors relate to post-viewing coping behaviors. Findings revealed that both the positivity of an outcome for a main character and perceived narrative closure were associated with heightened positive and meaningful affect, reduced emotional distress, and increased enjoyment and appreciation. Furthermore, appreciation and enjoyment were differentially related to coping behaviors, such that enjoyment was linked to decreased coping, whereas appreciation was associated with heightened engagement in these behaviors. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed
Aesthetics · Art · Character (mathematics · Closure (psychology · Cognitive psychology · Coping (psychology · Geometry · Literature · Narrative · Political science · Psychotherapist · Communication · Digital Games and Media · Mathematics · Media Influence and Health · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology
When Good Friends Say Goodbye
Relationships Among Positive Emotions, Coping, Resilience and Mental Health
Item Banks for Measuring Emotional Distress From the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®)
Games and Recovery
The case for positive emotions in the stress process
Exploring the Framing Effects of Emotion
Beyond the emotional event
Effect of expectation and disconfirmation on postexposure product evaluations
Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis
Stress, appraisal, and coping
Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models
You want to measure coping but your protocol’ too long
SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models
Mediation Analysis
Coping
The Entertainment Functions of Television
Interdependence of Narrative Characters
The Guilty Couch Potato
Entertainment as Pleasurable and Meaningful
The Role of Identification and Perception of Just Outcome in Evoking Emotions in Narrative Persuasion
Age Differences in Nonhedonic Entertainment Experiences
Media Entertainment and Well-Being-Linking Hedonic and Eudaimonic Entertainment Experience to Media-Induced Recovery and Vitality
Moral Judgment and Crime Drama
On the authenticity of televisual experience
Do Audiences Judge the Morality of Characters Relativistically? How Interdependence Affects Perceptions of Characters’ Temporal Moral Descent
Searching for the structure of coping
Video games as meaningful entertainment experiences
The relationship between elevation, connectedness, and compassionate love in meaningful films
Are Good Characters Better for Us? The Effect of Morality Salience on Entertainment Selection and Recovery Outcomes
Gratifying Ambiguity
How Do We React When Our Favorite Characters Are Taken Away? An Examination of a Temporary Parasocial Breakup
Parasocial Breakups
Watching Online Videos at Work
Social Media Goes to the Movies
Expanding Disposition Theory
Enjoyment
Anger, fear, uncertainty, and attitudes
Poignancy
Affective responses to the emotions of a protagonist
Application of confirmatory factor analysis to the study of self-concept
Independence and bipolarity in the structure of current affect
The role of temporal expectancies in the production of film suspense
From "reducing" to "coping with" uncertainty
Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence
Exposure and affect
Parasocial Break-Up from Favorite Television Characters
Exploring the Paradox of the Enjoyment of Sad Films
Factors Involved in Generating Suspense
When Narrative Brands End
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |