[Bêthberry]

Now Boro, why am I not surprised that you would find the death of Boromir your fav movie? Good questions you add.

Thanks for the links, Mr.Underhill. I couldn't find any published research articles on this in some of the online sociology journals but one of your links explains why:

The ESRC confirms the quality of its funded research by evaluating research projects through a process of peer review. Sometimes the ESRC publishes research before this process is finished so that new findings can immediately inform business, Government, media and other organisations. This research is waiting for final comments from academic peers.

Obviously, the research results have not yet been accepted for publication in any academic journals but the ESRC wanted to get the info out. A nice way around the 'publish or perish' climate in academe.

Apparently this research was based just on the third movie. This is hardly like the situation for most movies, which depend solely on advertising to win audiences. In the case of RotK, there were two previous movies themselves to prep the market.

I'm curious about the focus on 'fantasy' though. Why not question why people watch 'realism'? I wonder how this point jives with what Tolkien wrote about fantasy:

And they are more important and enjoyable to those who work in jobs where they feel they have little control over their lives.

So much depends on knowing just what questions were asked and how people could answer--how much control they had over what they could say.