Online Original Tv Series: Examining Portrayals Of Violence In Popular Binge-Watched Programs And Social Reality Perceptions (Vol 9, Pg 155, 2018)

Cultivation theory asserts that heavy exposure to universal themes on TV lead viewers to see the world in ways that parallel TV. This research applies cultivation theory to a contemporary context by considering portrayals of violence in online original TV series. In Study 1, a content analysis of commonly binge-watched online original TV programs revealed 5.9 violent instances per hour, generally characterized as explicit, serious, significant, graphic, and intentional. Moral justification of violence was rare; however, those who engaged in justified violence were frequently White perpetrators. While non-White females were more likely to be targets of sexual violence, non-White males were more likely to be perpetrators of sexual violence. Study 2 found that exposure to these commonly binge-watched online original TV programs was positively related to mean world perceptions and negatively related to kind world perceptions, suggesting that heavier viewers of these programs are more likely to view others as unkind and less likely to perceive them as altruistic. Implications for violence in online streaming TV are discussed.