Associate Professor Matthew Grizzard leads the Grizzard Entertainment Media Lab within the School of Communication, a group that researches how humans interact with entertainment and the processes that occur when they do.
“I try to understand why we enjoy stories,” Grizzard said. “Why do we like some characters in stories while disliking others? Is it something about the character that makes them likable or detestable, is it something about the story, or is it a combination of both? What kind of story ending will we like the most? These are the major questions that guide my research.”
Grizzard, along with PhD student Joe Francemone, recently had a research article, “Humor and poignancy: Exploring narrative pathways to face death and bereavement,” published in Frontiers in Communication Journal.
Grizzard hopes that his research is a part of breaking the stigma that surrounds media entertainment. He wants to make the usage of entertainment media more acceptable.
“One of my good friends has done research on how media entertainment can help us recover from a stressful day, but the problem is that people often will feel guilty about their media usage like they should have done something else instead,” Grizzard said. “We need time to unwind and recharge, and stories and other forms of media entertainment like video games can help us do that.”
Grizzard received his master’s and PhD from Michigan State, then went on to teach at the University at Buffalo from 2013-2018. He joined Ohio State in 2018 to fulfill his dream of being a professor at a Big Ten school.
“The Big Ten has some of the best comm programs in the country and world, and OSU is the best of the Big Ten,” Grizzard said.
Grizzard is also a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Media Psychology and Communication Research Reports.
Grizzard said he is excited about how the media entertainment market has opened up over the years, making it more accessible now than ever. Grizzard said he discovers new media all the time.
“I just discovered a new band today, in fact, called Gong Gong Gong. They are a band from Hong Kong who make noise rock. I wouldn’t have heard of these guys growing up because they wouldn’t have been found on the radio stations near my house. But today, with the internet, you can find all sorts of niche content that maybe is highly appealing to you,” he said.
While entertainment media is more accessible than ever, it can also be overwhelming at times. The best advice Grizzard has for media consumers is to expand their horizons.
“A lot of content that we see (almost all of it in fact) is being tailored and selected for us,” he said. “We can fall into ruts when we only listen to those things that we like (or that are similar to those things that we used to like). So, I would suggest that everyone try to bust out of those ruts. One way of doing so is listening to suggestions from friends (or classmates) or seeking out content or genres on social media platforms like Reddit. Seeking out older content is also a great way to expand your horizons.”
Article by student Jillian Harris
