Uncovering the reasons for why we as humans choose our entertainment media has plagued communication researchers for decades. In the wake of non-answered questions of how such media entertainment affect the masses and their world views, after discussions of violence, sex, news media and so forth have affected our very psychology, we are left with an alarming amount of information, and none of it extremely helpful. We affect entertainment media as it affects us. This argument is analogous to the genes vs. environment argument that has raged in the scientific community who are as equally powerless to explain the mysteries of human behavior.

Perhaps watching a violent movie makes us more aggressive, and perhaps seeing a world-view on the screen becomes more real to us than the world around us, but this ignores (in my opinion) the larger question which asks us why we choose this media for entertainment in the first place.  Mostly, the answer is vague, complex and multi-facet, such as is human behavior itself. Many possibilities arise to answer this question and range from a desire to learn about peers and social behaviors, to enjoyment to mood management and many various other motivations. However there is one facet of media entertainment that I find particularly compelling and I believe that is this facet of media entertainment that keeps people glued to their books, TVs, movie screens, and keeps them coming back for more. This elusive element is called transportation.

Transportation, as it occurs in media entertainment is the feeling that you are no longer engaged in a particular piece of entertainment, but when you being to invest yourself in the media itself.  Transportation occurs in media that is detailed, descriptive and has the ability to pull in its audience to become a part of it instead of just a partial observer. Take for example the popularity of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. As soon as you pick up the book and turn the page, you are sucked into  Harry Potter's world.  The details, descriptions and emotions are no longer passive, they are real to the avid reader. This is why you can cry when you read a book and why people can become obsessed (truly) with everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to Star Trek, to Harry Potter, to Lord of the Rings. These pieces of entertainment media have an intangible pull over their audience that I believe is due to their ability to transport people into their own respective worlds. Thus, transportation in this sense is mental transportation, where your conscious self leaves your living room, movie theater or comfy armchair and enters into the media.  It is beyond just enjoyment at that point, it is a must for you to be there and experience that media.

The millions of fans that pledge their devotion to all things Harry Potter may have been affected by transportation.

Transportation is thought to aide one's media choices, but I believe that it has stronger effects on a lasting audience. Transportation is key to the idea of fanship more than just mere enjoyment. Sure if I enjoy Harry Potter I will read the books, but if I am invested into them, if they become a pseudo-reality in some part of my brain, then I will stand in the bookstore at midnight for the latest book release, dress up in various Harry Potter garb to see the latest movie and cry when a favorite character of mine is killed. This is what creates the die-hard fans. It is the ability of the text to transport themselves into its reality.

I had been curious about a series of novels that I had seen in the bookstore and had never paid attention too much before. It was the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. All I knew about the books was that it was a love story and was about vampires. I was not expecting to finish the whole first book in ONE sitting. But somehow, I was sheepish to actually admit this fact to anyone else. Perhaps that the book's main fans are teenage girls or the fact that it was mostly a love story, and I didn't particularly want to be judged based on that. I literally sped through the rest of the books as fast as I had the first one (missing a lot of sleep), completely absorbed by the text. I had never particularly been drawn to vampire lore or that absorbed by an angsty teenage love story, but I definitely was now. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the novels, but it goes far beyond that. The emotions were real to me, I could feel what the characters felt, and could see the story unfolding around me as I read it. I was not motivated by enjoyment or boredom to read the rest of the novels, it was a compulsion, I absolutely HAD to read them. Immediately.  Now, I am a die hard Twilight fan, and I will defend that series to the death to anyone that inflicts my wrath. True I am not one of the throngs of lovesick teenage girls, but hey, any book that can render me powerless in its grasp, cannot be ignored.

Twilight: Don't underestimate the power of vampires and love. Sigh. But, you can best bet that I will be anxiously waiting for the movie.

Of course, not all media holds the same amount of transportation to all its audience. That comes down to the individual differences between people, their emotions, willingness to be absorbed into a text and the ability for them to become invested into the media. Thus I may point and laugh at someone who joins a local chapter of Cling-ons, or learns to speak elvish fluently after reading Lord of the Rings, but they may also snicker at me as I strap on a pair of Harry Potter glasses and a Gryffindor scarf waiting in line for the next movie.

So the next time you pick up the remote, turn the pages of your favorite new book or watch a movie and you feel as though there is something more than just the images on the screen or text on the page, then perhaps it is transportation that has taken you by surprise.