Result and Discussion
A total of 32 students contributed to this research. All of them are male and female
students of NSU. In the pie chart below, we can see that 50% of the students are
female and 50% of them are male. They were asked a set of different questions about
their preference for fantasy and sci-fi movie genres and the reason behind their choices
of each genre to understand whether or not watching fantasy and sci-fi movies actually
help reduce academic stress. The pie chart below shows the percentage of male and
female participants.
Figure 01: Preferences for movie genres
Above pie chart shows the responses of 30 male and female participants of NSU where
they were asked about the movie genre, they like the most. It can be seen that 75% of
respondents like fantasy movies and the remaining 25% like sci-fi movies. This clearly
shows that most of the participants prefer watching fantasy movies over sci-fi movies.
This analysis did support my hypothesis.
Figure 02: Reasons behind the preferences for fantasy genre
In figure 3, The chart shows the reasons behind the preferences for fantasy genre over
sci-fi genre. Here we can see that 54.2% of participants watch fantasy movies to escape
from reality and 29.2% like this genre for the appeal of magic and supernatural abilities.
Only 16.6% of participants watch fantasy movies to get inspiration for creativity and
other reasons.
Figure 03: Reasons behind the preferences for Sci-Fi genre
In the pie chart above we can see that 50% of participants prefer sci-fi genre because of
psychological thrills and suspense. Only 25% of them prefer sci-fi to escape from reality.
And the remaining 25% of participants prefer sci-fi for complex storytelling and other
reasons.
After analyzing both the charts we can see that 54.2% respondents watch fantasy
movies (from figure 2) and only 25% like to watch sci-fi movies (from figure 3) to escape
from reality. It is clear that the majority of the participants like to watch fantasy movies
than sci-fi movies to escape from reality. Thus, the analysis did support my hypothesis.
According to Reimer (2024), “The main reasons to escape the reality watching fantasy
were to forget about the routine life, to stop thinking about their problems, and isolation
from real people as well as real life.” (p.5)
Figure 04: Appeal of different elements in Fantasy movies
The pie chart above shows the different types of elements that are appealing to the
respondents who like fantasy genre. From the chart we can observe that aspirational
characters and magical creatures are the most fascinating elements in fantasy movies
according to the participants which is 41.7%. Then 25% of the contributors find visual
effects and cinematography more interesting than aspirational characters and magical
creatures. Imaginary worlds and plot twists attract only a few portions (12.5% and
20.8%) of participants.
Figure 05: Appeal of different elements in Sci-Fi movies
From the pie chart above we can notice that 62.5% of the participants find parallel
universe and time travel more appealing whereas 25% of them find characters and plot
twists more interesting in sci-fi movies. Only 12.5% of the contributors think that
technological development and innovations are amazing in sci-fi movies.
From figures 4 and 5, we found out that 41.7% of the viewers are attracted to fantasy
movies for aspirational characters and magical creatures, and parallel universe and time
travel scenes attract 62.5% viewers of sci-fi movies. None of the data supports my
hypothesis because I pre-assumed that most of the NSU students like to watch fantasy
movies than sci-f as it allows viewers to immerse themselves in imaginative world. “The
world-building aspect is key in both science fiction and fantasy and a part of that
world-building is magical creatures in fantasy and developing new technological
advancement in Science Fiction which requires a special focus on the world
you’ve built and how they affect the story.” (Myers,2024)
Figure 06: Fantasy movie in reducing academic stress
From the pie chart above we can see that 50% of participants agreed that fantasy
movies somewhat help reduce academic stress and 25% of them agreed that watching
fantasy movies help reduce academic stress a lot and it also helps in relaxation. While
according to the remaining 25% of the contributors' fantasy movies do not help much at
a significant rate in reducing academic stress.
Figure 07: Sci-Fi movies in reducing academic stress
From figure 9, the data shows the contribution of sci-fi movies in reducing academic
stress. Here we can see that 37.5% of participants feel more refreshed and relaxed
after watching sci-fi movies. 50% of them feel less stressed and more motivated. The
remaining 12.5% of the contributors feel no change in their mental health after watching
science fiction movies.
From both figures 6 and 7, it can be seen that fantasy helps 75% of the participants in
reducing stress that can be caused from academic pressure. But after watching sci-fi
movies 62.5% of the participants feel refreshed and less stressed. In addition to that
25% of them feel more motivated than before as this genre requires scientific and
technological development. Therefore, these data did not help my hypothesis as I
assumed that fantasy genre is more helpful than sci-fi in reducing academic stress.
Science fiction is useful both for stimulating the imagination and for diffusing fear of the
future. (“Stephen Hawking,” n.d.)
Figure 08: Reasons for not liking Sci-Fi
In the pie chart above it is shown that 41% of contributors agreed that sci-fi puts so
much focus on science rather than arts and it reminds 16.7% of them of studies. Also,
the other 33.4% and 8.3% of participants dislike sci-fi because of technical complexity,
lack of familiarity and for other reasons. So, this information did help in my hypothesis.
Figure 09: Reasons for not liking Fantasy
The final pie chart from figure 10 shows the reasons for those who like sci-fi not liking
fantasy. A large portion (75%) of the participants do not like fantasy because of complex
mythology and they think that fantasy genre is more magical than logical. 12.5% of them
prefer more futuristic visuals than nostalgic visuals. The remaining 12.5% do not like
this genre for other reasons. So, these answers do not support my hypothesis.