Consumers’ identification and beyond: attraction, reverence, and escapism in the evaluation of films

Secondary real-world data on evaluations by the general public of the 440 movies ever nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award are used to explore the role of female/male consumers’ identification with the leading actress/actor in determining judgments of motion picture excellence. Beyond identification, age- and gender-based similarities with other movie components—namely, the leading oppositegender star, the director, and the setting—underlie other potential psychological mechanisms relevant to explaining the evaluations of films. Contrary to expectations, the findings indicate that identification with the same-gender, same-age leading star plays no significant role. Conversely, younger opposite-gender leading stars, older directors, and unfamiliar temporal settings contribute to favorable evaluations—thereby supporting the hypotheses of romantic attraction as a source of star power; reverence toward more mature directors; and an eagerness to escape from ordinary life, respectively.