'What do audiences learn from action adventure films?'

Papers from a research project undertaken to investigate the expectations and impact of viewing action adventure films, taking as a focus the 1995 film 'Judge Dredd'. The papers comprise transcripts of interviews with a range of audiences and a final project report describing the project's objectives, methodology, results and conclusions gained. The research was undertaken with ESRC [Economic and Social Research] funding by Kate Brooks, research assistant to Professor Jay Blumler and its results were presumably used by Martin Baker of the University of Sussex, for his book 'Knowing Audiences: Judge Dredd'.
These papers will be of interest to researchers of late 20th century society and culture

Martin Barker (born 1946), Research Professor at Aberystwyth University. He has researched and published widely on topics ranging from comic books, censorship campaigns, arguments over 'dangerous media', methods of film analysis, and audiences for films. 'Knowing Audiences: Judge Dredd - Its Friends, Fans and Foes' by Martin Baker and Kate Brooks was published by the University of Luton Press in 1998.

Jay Blumler (born 1924), American-born theorist of communication and media; currently (2017) Emeritus Professor of Public Communication at the University of Leeds, and also Emeritus Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland; author of numerous books on communications and media

The film 'Judge Dredd' starring Sylvester Stallone opened in cinemas in 1995; Judge Joseph Dredd was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra and first appeared in the second issue of '2000 AD', a weekly science-fiction comic, in March 1977.

The interview files are arranged in the original order in which Martin Baker placed them.

Open. Access to all registered researchers.

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Papers described by A.George, July 2017, in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; and in-house cataloguing guidelines.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Deposited by Martin Barker, Media Studies, University of Sussex

Other collections relating to the examination of contemporary culture: MS221 'Consumption, lifestyle and identity: reading the new men's lifestyle magazines' research papers; UB/CCCS Records of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies.