Getting Lost "Into the Wild": Understanding Consumers' Movie Enjoyment Through a Narrative Transportation Approach

Abstract

As consumers enjoy watching movies for many reasons, this paper takes an existential-phenomenological perspective to discuss movie consumption as holistic private lived experiences. By using interactive introspection, the two researchers examined their own individual private consumption experiences with the recently released movie 'Into the Wild' (US 2007) as a complex tapestry of interrelated factors. The introspective data indicate that a consumer's personal engagement with the movie narrative, its characters and underlying philosophy is of particular importance for one’s enjoyment of the movie. This allows for and even enhances the consumer temporary feeling of complete immersion into the movie's imaginary world.