The Effect of Ambiguous Plot Devices in Film on Audience Satisfaction
Abstract
My research article will examine the use of uncertain communication in the form of ambiguous messaging in cinema and the effects that these messages may have on the audiences that view these movies in theaters. My research will also cover pre-existing stigma attached to ambiguous communication, its uses, and where ambiguity can be found. Simultaneously, this article will define audience satisfaction within the context of everyday communication as well as that of cinematic context. Furthermore, my paper aims to connect themes of ambiguous messaging to the film industry through the examination of three films, the presence of ambiguity within them, and the formal critic and audience reviews that can be equated to those films as a result of their use of ambiguity. This article may provide essential knowledge for filmmakers concerning the general reactions to ambiguity in cinema; otherwise, the findings stipulated here should interest film critiques and anyone that considers themselves an avid movie goer due to its focus on classic and popular cinema.
The Effect of Ambiguous Plot Devices in Film on Audience Satisfaction
Have you ever left a movie theater asking questions like: ‘what happened to the killer’, ‘was it a dream or reality’, or ‘so, what was inside the briefcase all along’?
Oftentimes filmmakers will decide not to show or tell the audience what happens in a movie to spark engagement, spur conversation, or to just flatout irritate those viewing the film. Regardless of the meaning behind unclear messages, many people will always remain confused and perhaps dissatisfied while leaving the cinema. Thus, the topic of this paper concerns ambiguous messages, specifically those used in blockbuster movies. The goal is to examine the use of ambiguity throughout cinema and the positive or negative reactions of the viewers towards open-ended plot lines. In this report, I will outline the pervasive terms and concepts pertinent to this study, provide a hypothesis for my research, and detail the method that will be utilized while gathering data.
Ambiguous messages in film represent a unique aspect of communication because it concerns messages that are deliberately unclear as opposed to an inadvertent, misunderstood message. Due to this, the receiver of said messages is permitted to create their own interpretation for the sender’s meaning. When applied to cinema, ambiguity can encourage the audience to engage in the storyline and create their own answers to the unfinished details provided on the silver screen. I am interested in exploring this topic because I feel that allowing an audience to fill in the absent details of a story can add to the escapism of cinema, yet the use of ambiguity is often the root of controversy and the cause of mixed reviews. While the purpose of a film is to convey a complete visual storyline, ambiguity walks the line of creative distinction and incomplete work. Whether the viewer feels engulfed in their imagined ending or cheated out of a full priced theater ticket, ambiguous plot devices frequently spark debate and curious interest. The findings of this article will be described in the following sections: the first concerning the basic information regarding ambiguous communication; then a section analyzing audience satisfaction in the context of receiving messaging through film, specifically blockbuster movies; finally, the last portion will examine a few examples of ambiguous and unambiguous plot devices in popular film and the reactions of general audiences of the time.
What are Ambiguous Messages
Ambiguity can be difficult to describe perhaps because its very nature entails a lack of clarity. Essentially, ambiguity can be conceptually defined as a descriptor for “a feature of information - namely lack of reliability, credibility, or adequacy” (Hillen, Gutheil, Strout, Smets, & Han, 2017). These three facets (reliability, credibility, and adequacy) inform how ambiguous a statement or message can be. Therefore, for communication to be ambiguous it must be lacking, to some extent, in at least one of these three categories. Conversely, if a message can be reasonably relied upon, is delivered by a credible source, and contains a meaningful amount of detail - it cannot be described as ambiguous. Ironically, ambiguous statements are one of the few forms of communication that are defined by how unsuccessful they are at communicating information.
So, what is the point of deliberate ambiguity? To answer this question one may have to ask what scenario requires someone to withhold a certain type of information. In the case of ambiguity, ‘a common emotional reaction to its use is confusion or worry’ (Grace, Mejia, Inhofe Rapert, & Thyroff, 2021) due to the shortage of elaboration, explanation, or coherence. This is because viewers fail to understand messages that lack adequate details or connective thoughts. Therefore, one possible use of ambiguity may be precisely to confuse another person, or at least to elicit provocative contemplation on a certain topic. This explains why ambiguity is such a pervasive literary device in forms of media like poetry, dramatic storytelling, and cinema.
Past studies on ambiguity can seem disconnected due to the myriad of industries that the literary device is used. However, what is important to take away from these studies are the reactions that the receivers of a message display in the face of ambiguity; for example, when testing the effect of uncertainty on satisfaction in the fields of healthcare (Hillen, Gutheil, Strout, Smets, & Han, 2017) and education (Grace, Mejia, Inhofe Rapert, & Thyroff, 2021). Results of these surveys found that if students and patients display a higher tolerance for ambiguity, they are often more satisfied with their doctor or teacher. Conversely, people with a lower tolerance for ambiguity display higher levels of stress and worry. Now that we have discussed the strong emotional reactions that are sparked by the use of ambiguity, let us shift focus to the reactions of a theater audience and the concept of satisfaction.
Audience Satisfaction
The next aspect of this study has to do with the emotional reactions of large groups of people. We can reuse the conceptual definition offered by Sussan & Chinta for audience satisfaction, “a feeling of positivity or fulfillment following an action or event” (Sussan & Chinta, 2016). More specifically, I intend to examine those feelings of positivity or fulfillment following the explicit use of ambiguous storytelling - if it occurs. In most forms of communication, satisfaction and ambiguity would seemingly create an inverse relationship, in which satisfaction increases with decreasing ambiguity; however, in the particular case of cinema that hasn’t always been true. This is because ambiguous, vague plot devices are there precisely to allow viewers to ‘fill in the details’ that weren’t delivered in full, thus increasing viewer contemplation and engagement. This doesn’t always work, though. So, it is important to devise a way in order to measure whether or not viewers are satisfied with the use of an ambiguous message, or any message for that matter.
The first piece of research that I will look at to measure audience satisfaction concerns the testing of ‘cinematic moments’ (Weaving, Pelzer, & Adam, 2018). Interestingly enough, this research article makes the distinction between the comprehension of a message and one’s enjoyment of that message, stating that “the spectators comprehension of a film’s narrative is theoretically separable from his or her emotional response” (Weaving, Pelzer, & Adam, 2018) meaning that it is entirely possible to enjoy a film without fully understanding the events of the plot. This is very important for this research article because it stipulates that, unlike real life conversations, our enjoyment of communicated messages is not reliant solely on our understanding of the message. Instead, a viewer's comprehension of the film can remain entirely disconnected from their emotional reaction, or satisfaction of the film. Now, with this information one could reasonably assume that ambiguity has no effect on the satisfaction of the audience, but there is still a great deal of variance concerning the use of ambiguity and ther performance of movies that use it.
Weaving, Pelzer, & Adam’s (2018) experiment introduced a number of diagrams and figures to the mapping of audience satisfaction including flow charts and a reactivity chart. The main takeaway for this was that testing for this experiment should not be too complicated, and that survey testing was often the easiest way to find a viewer's reactions. The next article that informed this section of the study focused on greater population testing of movie reactions. In order to create a basis for audience satisfaction on the global scale, Sussan and Chinta (2016) relied upon websites like Yahoo and IMDB instead of using a traditional controlled subject group. Though it doesn’t provide an in-depth perspective on a particular ambiguous message, when compared to the general ratings of a film that contains no ambiguity we can create an acceptable idea of which of the two films audiences preferred. This form of measurement for audience satisfaction will be used in the next section to examine a number of films both with and without ambiguous messaging.
Reactions to Ambiguity in Popular Film
According to Biltereyst and Meers (Biltereyst & Meers, 2018), “box office data is interesting to measure how particular types of films or genres were more popular”. They acknowledge that one of the simplest ways to understand whether or not a film resonates well with audiences is to check major websites for audience and critic scores. Similarly to the analysis done by Sussan and Chinta (2016), we are going to utilize box office data as reported by IMDB to analyze a few examples of film to try and find a basis for general audience reactions to ambiguous plot devices.
First, to establish a control example we need to identify a movie that contains no ambiguity. For this, I have chosen the 1975 blockbuster classic, Jaws. The rationale behind this choice lies in the simplicity of the plot: between the shark and the men hunting it, audiences are aware exactly who survives and there is no uncertainty at the end of the film. The first example of a film containing ambiguous messaging will be another classic from just five years later, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. This film was chosen for a few reasons: the first is that the two films The Shining and Jaws are both considered iconic, impactful films, they were released around the same time, and contain very different endings. In the case of The Shining, audiences are left to decipher the significance of a photo of the main character from half a century earlier that implies he has been reincarnated. The ending is quite ambiguous to say the least.
On IMDB, Jaws currently retains a rating of 8.1/10 - this statistic taken from the averaged reviews of over 500 thousand reviewers - and resides as the 514th most popular movie of all time. Comparatively, The Shining bolsters a rating of 8.4/10 and is considered, by IMDB, to be the 204th most popular movie of all time. This comparison would lead us to assume that the presence of ambiguity in film actually creates a positive intrigue in viewers and leaves a lasting impression after the credits roll.
To test this comparison further, I also chose a more contemporary film that utilizes ambiguity. Already the subject of past research, Christopher Nolan’s Inception (2010) matches the previously mentioned films in both impact and recognizability. Hill-Parks (2011) analyzes this piece as well as other works by Nolan due to his reliance upon ambiguity and the resulting popularity of Nolan’s films as a result. In the concluding moments of this film, audiences are left to wonder if the protagonist resides in reality or is trapped within his own consciousness, his dreams. Interestingly enough, despite the amount of time between this film and those previously mentioned, Inception ranks higher than both Jaws (1975) and The Shining (1980) coming in at a staggering 8.8/10 and being named the 148th most popular movies of all time.
Looking at just a few examples tells us that, despite lack of clarity or explanation, audiences are often more attracted to ambiguous plot devices than the plots of movies that do not contain vague endings. This is an interesting examination considering audiences pay to view what they can see, not what they do not get to see.
H1: Among blockbuster movie audiences, there is a positive relationship between the limited presence of ambiguous plot devices and audience satisfaction.
Method
I intend to use a survey in order to gather data for this research paper. This is because the results of this study concern the individual thoughts and reactions of the average movie goer. First, an invitation for participation will be widespread throughout The Santa Clara University campus by use of email. This invitation will call for the participation of reguler movie watchers for a survey concerning their reactions and opinions. This invitation also acts as a quasi-pretest because it allows us to narrow our subject pool to people who frequently watch movies. Once the subject pool has been created, subjects will be instructed to watch a movie with ambiguous plot devices (manipulation group) or a movie without ambiguity (control group). Films will be sampled from past research like Hill-Parks (2011) or chosen by the researcher for their inherent presence or absence of ambiguity, and these films may be shaved down to only necessary scenes in order to save time. Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of five films from both the list of ambiguous films [Inception (2010), The Shining (1980), The Life of Pi (2012), The Thing (1982), or 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)] and non-ambiguous films [Jaws (1975), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Miracle (2004), Remember the Titans (2000), or Forrest Gump (1994)]; they will be instructed that they are to offer their criticisms by comparing both films. After watching the film, students will complete a questionnaire to determine their overall satisfaction with the two films that they watched. Results will be compared to see which of the two films resonates more with test subjects.
I. Hypothesis
Among blockbuster movie audiences, there is a positive relationship between the limited presence of ambiguous plot devices (IV) and audience satisfaction (DV).
The presence of ambiguous plot devices (IV) is a nominal variable, and audience satisfaction (DV) is an interval variable.
II. Measurement
Presence of ambiguous plot devices
This variable is easy to measure mostly because it concerns a categorical
presence or absence of ambiguity in the film instead of measuring the magnitude of ambiguous messaging. Since there is no tool for measuring the amount of ambiguous messaging in a film, the selection of movies was made by myself drawing upon examples in my research and some picks of my own. The ambiguous examples were taken from relevant research and various top ten lists of the most ambiguous movies of all time. The non-ambiguous examples were harder to find, so I drew mostly upon war history and sports movies due to their historical accuracy and definitive plotlines. All of the movies on the list garnered some success among audiences.
It is ironic that ambiguous messaging has perhaps the most ambiguous operational definition - the choice to offer a variety of films that either display heavy ambiguity or very little ambiguity came because the original decision was to only offer two movies [Jaws (1975) and Inception (2010)]. Given the expanded list of films and considering that I have seen each of these films at least twice, I can attest that they represent an adequate contrast between pictures that rely heavily on ambiguity and films that hardly use it at all.
Audience satisfaction
A survey utilizing a Likert scale.
There is precedent for this type of survey when measuring satisfaction. This tool
was used by Weaving, Pelzer, & Adam (2018) to test for subject satisfaction.
a) Weaving, S., Pelzer, S., & Adam, M. (2018). The cinematic moment:
improving audience testing of movies. Studies in Astralasian Cinema. 12 (2-3), 89-103. https://10.1080/17503175.2018.1539542
3. The survey will include a commentary section in which subjects are encouraged to comment on the film they had watched to see what aspects they engaged/resonated with. This will ensure they actually paid attention and their responses are genuine/honest.
III. Methodology
I intend to utilize a survey for further research. A survey allows me to acquire personal thoughts and opinions of the audience, more specifically an individual movie goer. An experiment would not work in this scenario because I cannot observe how satisfied a subject is without hearing their perspective of the film. A content analysis might work if I were sampling the vast amounts of critic reviews for these films, but I maintain a lot of doubt in the accuracy and validity of internet film reviews.
The survey I plan to use will be an online survey using the Likert-scale. This aligns with the same testing of satisfaction that I observed in past research. The questions of this survey will be modified in order to capture the subject’s feelings towards the two films that they watched. This will, of course, be administered after the subject views one ambiguous and one non-ambiguous film from the aforementioned list.
IV. Sampling
This research ideally wants a generalization of all the movie goers in North America to accurately apply these findings to the American film industry. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association) estimates that 12% or 43 million are frequent movie goers. This means that 43 million people in the U.S. and Canada attend a movie at least once a month.
Using a sample size calculator, indicate what size you think the sample should be if it were randomly selected from the population (use a 95% confidence level and a Margin of
Error of ±3%). With a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of ±3% my sample size would be 1068 people.
C. Given the opportunity I would use a stratified random sampling method. With enough volunteers, I could then separate the subject pool into people who watch movies frequently and those who don’t watch a lot of films. This would increase the generalizability to a greater population. This all depends on how many subjects I can attract from people with university emails.
Hypothesis Testing
Based on your hypothesis (the IV and DV), which statistical test should you use (hint: this handy table might help!) The appropriate test would be an Independent Samples t-test.
A t-test is the correct choice because it allows me to test the reliability of two nominal categories (ambiguous or unambiguous) against a single interval variable (audience satisfaction).
The hypothesis would be significant when the difference between the means of the two categories is greater than the p-value. The null hypothesis is rejected when the p value is below the significance level - in most cases 0.05.
Ethical Implications
Many of the films on the list contain action, horror, and other explicit themes. This is why an older subject pool has been chosen instead of children. Otherwise, I anticipate very little ethical repercussions since all the subject will have to do is watch two movies and give their opinion on both.
Once again, these films deal with some adult themes and this will be explained in great detail to viewers before they participate.
In performing this study we might gain fascinating information regarding individual reactions to ambiguous messaging. Furthermore, subjects might find some enjoyment in the films that they watch considering they are some of the most famous, popular pictures of their time. The only downside might be the expense of the subject's valuable time, especially if they dislike the movie.