The Impact of Alternative Audiovisual Products on the Socialization of the Sexual-Affective Desires of Teenagers

Introduction

Throughout history, most audiovisual products have linked violence to sexual-affective relationships (Bleakley et al., 2012; Gomez, 2015), which has reinforced the desire for violent characters through audiovisual techniques that represent both spoken and nonspoken language. Tempestuous relationships appear constantly in movies, videogames, music videos, TV shows, and so on. Such audiovisual products are a key socializing agent in adolescence (Harris, 2011), especially with regard to sexual-affective relationships (Johnson-Baker et al., 2016; Ward, 2002). Therefore, teenagers are generally socialized in tempestuous relationships and an attraction to violence. However, alternative audiovisual products that differ from the messages that the dominant audiovisual products emit also exist (Downing, 2001), and among these, audiovisual products that promote a desire for nonviolent characters by presenting them as attractive can be identified.

Desire is a fundamental element in the creation of audiovisual products; it is the element through which excitement and fantasies are created, both in the characters and in the audience. An abundance of images and language referring to characters appears in audiovisual products, and many of these accompany us throughout our lives; we are socialized into the emotions and desires they provoke in us (Baladrón Pazos, 2004; Ballard & Wiest, 1996; Gross & Levenson, 1995; Mulgrew et al., 2014).

With the main objective of contributing to overcoming gender violence, the purpose of this study is to show that through communicative methodology the impact that alternative audiovisual products have on the socialization and transformation of the sexual-affective desires of Spanish adolescents (between the ages 13 and 18) can be analyzed. To achieve this purpose, in this article, we will first review the literature on the impact that audiovisual products have on teenagers and the socialization teenagers receive from such products regarding sexual-affective desires and relationships. Second, we will explain the communicative methodology, which we have used in this study to analyze and contribute to the positive impact that alternative audiovisual products have on the socialization of the sexual-affective desires of teenagers. Third, we will present the results of our analysis, and we will finish with some conclusions.

Audiovisual Products and the Socialization of Sexual-Affective Desires and Relationships

Several authors have studied the impact of audiovisual products on consumers, observing that they create desires, pleasure, and/or experiences due to the time and economic resources the audiovisual industry spends on satisfying or generating desire through its products (Alzuru, 2010; Baladrón Pazos, 2004). Sexual-affective relationships are an essential element in such products with key topics such as love, heartbreak, marriage, and so on (Wexman, 1993). Many of those relationships, however, are represented as having nonegalitarian values (Capdevila et al., 2011). A study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania (Bleakley et al., 2012) analyzed the 855 highest-grossing movies between 1950 and 2006 and observed that male characters tend to be violent and female characters tend to be represented in explicit sex scenes. Moreover, violence and explicit sex have increased for both male and female characters (Bleakley et al., 2012). These nonegalitarian sexual-affective relationships socialize us into an attraction toward violent characters and the tolerance of gender violence (Flecha, 2012).

Something similar occurs in the case of video games. Dietz (1998) analyzed 33 Nintendo and Sega video games and found that violence and traditional gender roles are central to them. Similarly, many music videos show a stereotyped image of women and men: “the message seems to be that just as women are expected to act sexually, males should engage in more typically masculine aggressive behavior” (Wallis, 2011, p. 169).

The cultivation theory, developed by Gerbner et al. (1980) during the 1940s and 1950s, indicates that media generate long-term effects on the audience and their perception of reality. Currently, there are different studies that connect audiovisual content with people’s socialization. Some have observed that consumption of violent audiovisual products is linked to violent behaviors (Diez Gutierrez, 2014; Gabbiadini et al., 2013; Ybarra et al., 2008). As Gentile et al. (2011) indicated, “children who consumed higher amounts of media violence early in the school year had changed to have hostile attribution biases (both relational and physical) with resultant increased aggressive behaviors” (p. 205).

There are also studies that state that values are transmitted through an open curriculum (school) but also through a hidden one (media, books, movies, etc.) (Oliver & Valls, 2004). Ward (2002) conducted an experimental and correlational study about TV’s influence on youth’s attitudes and beliefs regarding sexual relationships. Its results affirmed that the more time teenagers spend in front of the screen, the stronger the correlation is between the attitudes and beliefs they observe on the screen and their own attitudes and beliefs.

However, although violence and the desire for violent models are present in the dominant audiovisual products, there are also alternative audiovisual products. Those are the products that differ from the dominant products in the conventional media (Downing, 2001); in the case of this study, the alternative products join desire and a lack of violence and thus move away from the desire of violence in sexual-affective relationships that is dominant in audiovisual products. Gender violence cannot be prevented and overcome just by the language of ethics, which reflects what is best and most convenient for someone or for society as a whole (Duque & Teixido, 2016). It is necessary to transform the language of desire, which is the capacity to raise attraction toward and be desired by nonviolent models (Flecha et al., 2013). If we want to contribute the prevention of gender violence, it is important to socialize teenagers in alternative audiovisual products that promote desire toward alternative and egalitarian sexual-affective relationships (Soler, 2017). This can only be accomplished through the language of desire, which is the capacity to raise attraction and be desired, and the language of ethics, which reflects what is best and most convenient for someone or for society as a whole (Flecha et al., 2013); this link is necessary for constructing passionate relationships free from violence (Soler, 2017). This link appears in what is known as the new alternative masculinities (NAM), and therefore, alternative audiovisual products in which NAM are represented are fundamental (Flecha et al., 2013). NAM have been identified as those men who are nonviolent, egalitarian, and self-confident; these are men who fight to confront the negative attitudes of the dominant traditional masculinities, rejecting double standards explicitly and taking an active stance against gender violence and who, because of all this, generate a great desire among women (Redondo-Sama, 2016).

Still, we find a gap in the scientific literature with regard to the impact that alternative audiovisual products have on teenagers’ desires. Based on qualitative communicative methodology, which does not just aim at describing reality but at transforming it, this article proposes to fill this gap by studying the impact of audiovisual products and analyzing the transformation of desire toward nonviolence in teenagers.

Using Communicative Methodology to Analyze the Impact That Alternative Audiovisual Products Have on Teenagers’ Sexual-Affective Desires

Qualitative research scholars have an obligation to change the world, to engage in ethical work that makes a positive difference. They are challenged to confront the facts of injustice, to make the injustices of history visible, and hence open to change and transformation. (Denzin, 2010, p. 115)

Following this line of research aimed at social and individual transformation, in this study we have used communicative methodology (Gomez & Munte, 2015) which includes the voices of the research subjects (Denzin, 2010) in a dialogue during the whole research process to achieve a transformative impact on the research subjects (Reale et al., 2017).

Through the communicative methodology, in this article, we have analyzed the impact of alternative audiovisual products on teenagers’ sexual-affective desires. Communicative focus groups and in-depth interviews with a communicative orientation have been conducted with adolescents with regard to four very popular audiovisual products. The aim was to generate critical thinking and joint knowledge between the researchers and adolescents regarding the impact that these products have on the sexual-affective desires of adolescents and, in particular, on the reproduction or defeat of the attraction to violence.

The Impact of Audiovisual Products on the Socialization of Teenagers’ Sexual-Affective Desires

The incorporation of teenagers in the communicative methodology has allowed them to think critically about the analysis of the impact that audiovisual products have on the socialization of their sexual-affective desires, promoting a change and a desire for nonviolent people.

An attraction for violent characters did appear in some interviews conducted with girls when they were asked whether they would hook up or have a relationship with Hache, the main character of the Spanish movie. However, the girls who feel this kind of desire are a minority of all those who participated in the study. For instance, a girl indicated in one of the in-depth interviews that she would hook up with Mario Casas, the Spanish actor who plays Hache, the violent male character in Tres metros sobre el cielo (Zeta Audiovisual et al., 2010), and attributes her attraction toward him to his physical appearance:

At first sight, the ones I would hook up with would be Mario Casas and so on, but because of their physical appearance, because of the . . . you know they are attractive. (EA230)

However, at the same time, in the same interview, it was possible to identify that this girl feels attracted toward this character not because of his physical appearance but because of his attitude, which she defines as macho men, though she is aware that it is not “well seen” because this attitude scorns girls:

However, for example, the one in Tres metros sobre el cielo, I feel attracted to his attitude; the attitude of the men who are like “I am a macho.” Ok maybe that is not well perceived because he leaves the woman behind. (GDA3A22)

Similarly, another girl admitted in an in-depth interview that she had once felt attracted toward Hache precisely because of his bad and cocky attitude but that physically she did not consider him handsome. However, as we will see later on, that attraction toward this violent character disappears due to the dialogue on the attraction of the nonviolent characters of the alternative audiovisual products and the knowledge shared between the girls and the researcher.

Because the other one [Hache] seemed attractive to me at that time due to the fact that he is a badass, because he’s not handsome, this I don’t know . . . the excitement he gives. (EA167)

The other girl interviewed expressed that before watching the scenes from The Fault in Our Stars (Fox 2000 Picture et al., 2014) she had felt attracted to Hache, the violent character from the other movie. However, after analyzing these issues through the dialogue with the researcher, she recognizes that she really liked discovering that now she can analyze sexual-affective relationships in another way, introducing the variable of attraction to violence. This type of dialogue has made her like Gus, the nonviolent character from The Fault in Our Stars (Fox 2000 Picture et al., 2014), very much precisely because she did not see any violence in the movie, and she rejects Hache:

When I watched it [The Fault in Our Stars], I was starting to get into this world of analyzing things, and I actually liked it. I really liked it because I haven’t seen anything toxic in the movie, and in the other one I have. In the other one, everything seems very violent to me, and in this one, it seems natural . . . Now I, I mean, I had seen that movie a while ago, and a while ago, he seemed attractive [Hache], but of course, now I see him and I say, “God no!” (EA192)

Nevertheless, most of the girls in the focus groups expressed that they do not like violent characters such as Hache and Michael de Santa. They think they are cocky and bad, and thus, they would not like to hook up or have a long-term sexual-affective relationship with them. One of the girls in a focus group indicated that she would not engage in any kind of sexual-affective relationship with a violent boy because he can get her into trouble or get her involved in his own trouble:

Because he can get you in trouble, or for example, he can get in trouble and get you involved inappropriately. (GDA1A18)

All the girls in the focus groups expressed that they feel attracted to the nonviolent characters of the two alternative audiovisual products, especially to Gus because they easily identify with the adolescent couple in The Fault in Our Stars. In spite of the fact that some girls in the interviews expressed their attraction toward Hache before watching Gus and Hazel’s scenes, all the girls, these included, noted that they would prefer to have both a fling and a long-term relationship with Gus. The following is one of those reflections from one of the girls among the many who expressed that same desire:

If I see a guy like that, not only do I want to hook up, I want a relationship, I am not shy. (GDA31)

The girls note that they also like Gus due to his attitude, but as opposed to the case of Hache, all of them like Gus, not just a few of them. They like Gus because he worries about and takes care of Hazel and because he does not have the “cocky” attitude of those boys who look down on a girl once they have hooked up with her. This is how two of the girls highlighted it in the interviews:

Like the one in the movie [Gus], the second one, who worries about you, who looks after you, who doesn’t care for appearances, who cares more about the way you are, your feelings, and who is a good person. (EA334)

Because yeah, because he’s a boy who is not the typical one you see showing off, or the typical cocky one who goes with his friends and says, “look last night I hooked up with this one.” (EA259)

Regarding the boys who participated in the study, there has not been any intervention that shows that they admire the violent characters of Tres metros sobre el cielo (Zeta Audiovisual et al., 2010) and Grand Theft Auto V (Benzies et al., 2013). This fact has much to do with the very process of the development of the communicative methodology. Through this methodology, the scientific literature on the object being studied has been shown to the participants (i.e., attraction to violence and the new alternative masculinities). While reflecting and talking about this together with the researcher, some of the participants have critically reflected on their desires and have modified their admiration of the violent characters.

All the boys in the focus groups have noted that the main female characters in The Fault in Our Stars (Fox 2000 Picture et al., 2014) and Kingdom Hearts (Nishi et al., 2013) are more attractive than the ones in Tres metros sobre el cielo (Zeta Audiovisual et al., 2010) and Grand Theft Auto V (Benzies et al., 2013). One of them explained in a communicative focus group that he likes good girls such as Hazel or Kairi because they are not like the ones who hurt you:

She is pretty, and this one is a good person. You see she knows how to lead a relationship, and she knows how to carry it seriously, and she is not like these ones who tear you down and all that. She is truly a good person. (GDO03A44)

Regarding the boys who participated in the interviews, it is clear that they would like to have a sporadic or long-term sexual-affective relationship with girls such as Hazel or Kairi, as those girls know how to value people. For instance, a boy who was talking about Hazel in one of the interviews indicated that he likes her because she is nice and passionate, faithful, and wants to reunite with the person she loves:

She is nice; she is passionate. You know she is a faithful person and that she hopes to reunite with the person she loves. (EO266)

Through the in-depth interviews and communicative focus groups, we have mainly observed that most teenagers who participated in the study have a desire for the nonviolent characters from the two alternative audiovisual products. The communicative methodology has enabled a dialogue that has led to critical thinking about the teenagers’ desires. This has allowed for the desires of attraction toward the violent characters to be changed by desires of rejection toward them; at the same time, the dialogues have generated desires of generalized attraction toward the nonviolent characters.

Conclusion

Many audiovisual products promote the link between attraction and violence, such as the movie Tres metros sobre el cielo (Zeta Audiovisual et al., 2010) and the video game Grand Theft Auto V (Benzies et al., 2013). However, throughout the communicative focus groups and the in-depth interviews with a communicative orientation conducted with adolescents, it has been observed that the visualization of such alternative audiovisual products as the film The Fault in Our Stars (Fox 2000 Picture et al., 2014) and the video game Kingdom Hearts (Nishi et al., 2013) and the subsequent reflection and dialogue on them through the communicative methodology have fomented an attraction toward their main characters.

Portraying their characters not only as good but also as attractive due to their attitudes is fundamental to promoting audiovisual products’ attraction toward those who are not violent. Hazel and Gus, the main characters of The Fault in Our Stars (Fox 2000 Picture et al., 2014), are the ones who have most attracted the adolescents who participated in this study. The adolescents identified themselves very easily with these adolescent characters who are very similar to them. This identification allowed the participants in the study to link their own feelings directly with the feelings of the characters and, at the same time, to link the characters with their own experiences or the type of relationship they would like to have. All the girls liked to identify themselves with Hazel, a brave girl who does not like boys with negative values. Similarly, all the girls felt attracted to Gus, a self-confident boy who loves and respects Hazel and who could be considered a new alternative masculinity. At the same time, all the boys who participated in the study were attracted to Hazel and not to the girls from the other two audiovisual products who were “hooked” on violent boys. At the same time, all the boys observed in Gus a role model and did not want to identify themselves with any of the other two violent male characters.

Very few girls expressed feelings of attraction for the violent male characters from the other two audiovisual products. Just a few expressed an attraction for Hache from Tres metros sobre el cielo (Zeta Audiovisual et al., 2010), and some of them, when they observed the scenes from The Fault in Our Stars (Fox 2000 Picture et al., 2014) and established a dialogue between their colleagues and the researcher based on their experiences and the knowledge on attraction to violence and new masculinities, stated explicitly that they used to consider Hache attractive but no longer do.

Through the communicative methodology, the teenagers who participated in the study established a dialogue with the researchers based on the scientific literature on the object of study and the visualization of dominant and alternative audiovisual products. This dialogue, established through in-depth interviews and communicative focus groups, has allowed the participants to reflect on their desires as well as to modify them.

As we have observed in the study, qualitative methodologies, such as the communicative methodology, are important to answer to research questions such as the one we set out, that is, what impacts do alternative audiovisual products have on teenagers’ sexual-affective desires. The use of qualitative data gathering techniques has enabled the participants to reflect and critically think about their past and present sexual-affective experiences and desires and change their desires and their projections for future sexual-affective relationships. The appearance, through the communicative methodology, of the language of desire regarding nonviolent models can contribute to the overcoming of gender violence.