PhD Research Summary

Windows of Fantasy: The Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Film and Television Posters
Dr Rhianna M. Morse
PhD (Film & Television Studies, Brunel University London)

Fans don’t just watch stories — they live them on their walls.

This page presents a summary of my PhD research on fan culture, focusing on how posters shape identity, space, and everyday life in the home.

Findings summarised from Morse (2025a; 2025b).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Example of posters displayed in a workplace classroom, showing how fans integrate film and television posters into everyday environments.

About the Research
Aim
Example Fan Poster Displays
Methodology
Key Findings
Frameworks (The Three Significances & The Big Three)
PhD Online Survey Summary
Research Contribution & Why it matters
References
Download Documents

About the Research

This PhD research explores how science fiction and fantasy posters are experienced by fans, focusing on their meaning in everyday life.

It looks at how posters are:

Displayed in the home (e.g. bedroom, study, shared spaces)
Placed and arranged (grouping, layout, positioning)
Connected to media (films, TV shows, and fictional worlds)

It also explores how posters relate to:

Identity and self-expression
Emotions and well-being
Personal meaning and memories
Levels of investment and attachment

Because science fiction and fantasy are imaginative genres, studying their posters offers a unique way to understand how people connect to fictional worlds in real life.

Aim

To understand how science fiction and fantasy posters create cultural meaning, and how individuals use them to express identity and engage with media in everyday spaces.

Example Fan Poster Displays

Source: Morse (2025b)

Bedroom poster display (Participant submission)

Source: Morse (2025b)

Hallway poster display

(Participant submission)

Source: Morse (2025b)

Example of a ‘franchise zone’ where posters are grouped by narrative world

(Participant submission)

Methodology

How the research was conducted:

📊 Survey – 273 respondents
🎤 Interviews – 28 participants
📷 Participant photographs
📚 Mixed-methods analysis
🖼 Adult poster owners from North America and Europe
Analysis of physical & digital posters

Key Findings

Official vs Fan Art

Official posters = accurate depictions
Fan art = creative reinterpretations

Content

Content is the most important factor for poster meaning

Reinforce & Evoke

Posters shape identity and trigger emotional responses

Identity & Connection

Posters support self-expression and media connection

Space Shapes Meaning

Where posters are placed changes how they are experienced

Physical & Digital

Format affects how posters are accessed and displayed

Frameworks

Two conceptual models guide the analysis:

The Three Significances

The Big Three

The Three Significances

Aesthetic, Functional, & Significance (both spatial and personal)

The Three Significances explain how posters gain meaning through their aesthetic qualities, practical function, and their spatial and personal significance within everyday spaces.

🎨

Aesthetic Significance

How posters are valued as art and visual culture.

🖼️ Focus:

Visual pleasure, style, and artistic appreciation
“The Big Three” → Content, Design, Colour

💡 Meaning:

Reflects personal taste and identity
Links to ideas of beauty, composition, and symbolism
Shapes emotional reactions and first impressions

📍 Examples:

A striking design that feels “cinematic”
Choice of colour palette reflecting mood or genre

🧩

Functional Significance

How posters serve a practical or everyday role.

🔧 Purpose:

Decoration, personalisation, or space-filling
Organising or dividing a room (physical posters)
Background imagery or wallpaper (digital posters)

🌐 Paratextual Role:

Extends the experience of the media text
Functions as advertisement, souvenir, or conversation starter

📍 Examples:

Poster over a desk to “set the tone”
Digital wallpaper connecting to a fandom or mood

💫

Personal / Spatial Significance
How posters hold emotional and symbolic meaning.

💖 Emotional Connection:

Memories, inspiration, comfort, identity
Links to fandom and belonging

🏡 Spatial Meaning:

Placement transforms rooms into expressions of self
Bedroom or office becomes an “outworld” or fan sanctuary

📍 Examples:

Hanging a favourite film poster above the bed
Framing a poster as a personal achievement or memory marker

✨ In short:

Posters are not just decorations — they are artworks, tools, and mirrors of identity.

Together, the Three Significances explain how and why posters matter socially, culturally, and personally.

Content, Design, & Colour

The Big Three identify the key visual elements of posters—content, design, and colour—that shape how they are interpreted and experienced by viewers. Price is not included because it can change over time, whereas these visual elements remain fixed once the poster is created.

The Big Three

👤

Content

What the poster shows and represents.

🪐 Focus:

Characters, story world, and themes
Logos, taglines, and textual clues
Narrative hints (e.g., conflict, setting, genre markers)

💡 Meaning:

Defines what the viewer connects with first
Carries symbolic and emotional cues from the media text
Highest-rated factor of importance among owners

📍 Examples:

Darth Vader silhouette = power & conflict
The Shire landscape = warmth & escapism

🖋️

Design

How the poster is composed and structured.

🎨 Focus:

Layout, typography, composition, balance
Use of negative space and focal points
Iconic design traditions (e.g., minimalist, montage, retro styles)

💡 Meaning:

Organises how the eye moves and reads the image
Communicates mood and energy before reading text
Reflects studio branding or fan-artist creativity

📍 Examples:

Symmetrical Marvel ensemble layout
Hand-drawn fan poster mimicking vintage cinema style

🌈

Colour

How colour shapes emotion, genre, and tone.

🎨 Focus:

Palette choices (dark vs bright, cool vs warm tones)
Colour contrast and saturation
Association with genre (e.g., blue sci-fi glow, gold fantasy warmth)

💡 Meaning:

Elicits instant emotional response
Helps viewers “feel” the world before seeing the film/show
Reinforces identity of the media text (brand consistency)

📍 Examples:

Deep blue + silver = futuristic, technological
Fiery reds/oranges = adventure, danger, or heroism

✨ In short:

The Big Three — Content, Design, and Colour — are the building blocks of meaning.

They work together to define how a poster communicates, attracts attention, and evokes emotion.

PhD Online Survey Summary

1. Meaning & Emotional Significance

Science-fiction and fantasy film and TV show posters were found to elicit emotional responses (Figure 1) and serve as reminders of the films or TV shows from which they originate (Figure 2).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 1. Responses elicited from posters on their owners. The bars are the mean Likert score along with the SD (error bars). The horizontal bar (Pink line) signifies a homogeneous sub-group (at p < 0.05).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 2. Number of respondents who claimed that their posters provided reminders of a film and/or TV show, person, place, or event.

Most respondents felt their posters reflected their sci-fi and fantasy fan identity and sense of self, often to a great extent (Figure 3). However, posters reflected other aspects of identity (such as age, class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, or religion) only to a small extent (Figure 3).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 3. The extent to which respondents felt that posters reflected identities reflected. The bars are the average Likert scores along with the SD (error bars). The horizontal bars (Pink line) signify homogeneous sub-sets (at p < 0.05). ‘Any other identities’ is presented at the right-hand side to distinguish it from predefined criteria, as it consists of diverse participant-supplied responses rather than a singular variable.

Completing the survey primarily led respondents to clarify rather than change their understanding of their posters’ significance.

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 4. The extent to which the respondent’s perspective on their physical and/or digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s) had clarified or changed after completing the online survey, along with the SD (error bars) of the scores.

5. Who Took Part?

Respondents were predominantly male, aged 18 – 34, white, non-religious, heterosexual or straight, and middle-class (Table 1). Participants were mainly from English-speaking regions, particularly North America and Europe (Table 1).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Table 1. Summary of the demographic characteristics of the online survey respondents (N = 273) and interviewees (N = 28). Please note that in the online survey, some respondents selected more than one answer from those offered to them. As all answers were treated equally and included in the overall count, in some cases where respondents selected more than one option, the total number of responses exceeded 273.

4. Display & Personal Space

Posters were most commonly displayed in private spaces, particularly bedrooms, whereas living rooms and home offices were secondary display areas (Figure 15).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 15. The mean percentages in which rooms the respondents display their physical and/or digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars). ‘Other’ is presented at the right-hand side to distinguish it from predefined criteria, as it consists of diverse participant-supplied responses rather than a singular variable.

Placement decisions were influenced by visibility, fit with other objects, and whether the poster brightened or added colour to the room, criteria rated moderately important (Figure 15).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 16. The importance of the criteria for the placement of the respondent’s physical science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars). The horizontal bars (Pink line) signify homogeneous subsets (at P<0.05).

2. Physical vs Digital Posters

Most respondents owned both physical and digital posters, with physical posters being the dominant type (Figure 5). Respondents typically owned between one and five physical posters, but larger numbers of digital ones, often eleven or more (Figure 5).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 5.The number of physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s) the respondents currently own.

Digital posters were usually displayed on computer screens and laptops, with some also viewed on mobile phones or tablets (Figure 6).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 6. The average percentages on what device(s) do the respondents store or view digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 5.The number of physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s) the respondents currently own.

3. Aesthetics & Buying Preferences

When acquiring posters, respondents rated the content (iconography) as the most important factor, followed by design and colour, which were valued to a great extent (Figure 7).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 7. The importance of the criteria when buying/acquiring physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars). ‘Other’ is presented at the right-hand side to distinguish it from predefined criteria, as it consists of diverse participant-supplied responses rather than a singular variable.

Content featuring characters was the most common, while landscapes and settings were more common in digital posters (Figure 8).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 8. The average percentages of the primary content (iconography) of the respondent’s physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars). ‘Other’ is presented at the right-hand side to distinguish it from predefined criteria, as it consists of diverse participant-supplied responses rather than a singular variable.

Designs were most often digitally edited (Figure 9).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 9. The average percentages of the design of the respondent’s physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 10. The average percentages of the respondents’ physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s) are black and white or have colour, along with the SD (error bars).

Colour was dominant across both types, with physical posters being slightly more colourful on average (Figure 10)

The origin of a poster (official or fan art) was rated as having low importance (Figure 7). Physical posters were mostly official; digital posters, by contrast, were predominantly fan art (Figure 11).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 11. The average percentage of physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s) that are official and/or fan art owned by respondents, along with the SD (error bars).

For physical posters, respondents were generally willing to pay around £30 and digital posters were expected to be low-cost or free (Figure 12).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 12. The highest price (£) the respondents would be willing to pay for a single physical and digital science-fiction and/or fantasy poster.

Physical posters were mostly printed on paper, often A1 in size (Figure 13), and usually displayed on walls (Figure 14).

Source: Morse (2025b)

Figure 13. The average percentages on the size of physical science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s), along with the SD (error bars).

Source: Morse (2025a)

Figure 14. The mean percentages where the physical science-fiction and/or fantasy poster(s) placed within the respondent’s room(s), along with the SD (error bars). ‘General wall placement (‘on the wall(s)’) may overlap with specific wall locations, as participants could select multiple applicable responses. ‘Other’ is presented at the right-hand side to distinguish it from predefined criteria, as it consists of diverse participant-supplied responses rather than a singular variable.

PhD Online Survey Summary

Over 273 respondents worldwide took part in an online study exploring how science-fiction and fantasy film and TV posters are owned, displayed, and valued. Findings show these posters are emotionally charged cultural artefacts, not mere décor. They bridge worlds: between the screen and the bedroom wall, fandom and identity, nostalgia and everyday life.

Research Contribution &
Why it matters

This research shows that science fiction and fantasy posters are not just promotional images, but meaningful objects that shape identity and everyday life.

By examining how fans collect and display posters, it reveals how domestic spaces become extensions of media worlds.

Why this research matters

Shows how media shapes everyday life in the home
Explains how identity is expressed through physical space
Highlights fan behaviour beyond online spaces
Useful for:
- media industries (audience engagement, marketing)
- cultural research (identity, space, material culture)
- design & curation (visual organisation of space)

Morse, R. M. (2025a) ‘Understanding the Social and Cultural Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Posters’, Social Sciences. Published online 21 July. DOI: 10.3390/socsci14070443.

Morse, R.M. (2025b) Windows of Fantasy: The Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Film and Television Posters. PhD thesis, Brunel University London.

References

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PhD Thesis

Morse, R. M. (2025) Windows of Fantasy: The Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Film and Television Posters. PhD thesis. Brunel University London.

The full PhD thesis is available via the Brunel University Research Archive: https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32036

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PhD Thesis Summary

Dowload PDF: PhD Thesis Summary.pdf

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PhD Online Survey Summary

Download PDF: PhD Online Survey Summary.pdf

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Published peer-reviewed research in Social Sciences (MDPI).

Morse, R. M. (2025) ‘Understanding the Social and Cultural Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Posters’, Social Sciences. Published online 21 July. DOI: 10.3390/socsci14070443.

Download

PhD Research Summary

Windows of Fantasy: The Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Film and Television Posters Dr Rhianna M. Morse PhD (Film & Television Studies, Brunel University London)

Fans don’t just watch stories — they live them on their walls. This page presents a summary of my PhD research on fan culture, focusing on how posters shape identity, space, and everyday life in the home. Findings summarised from Morse (2025a; 2025b).

Contents

Frameworks (The Three Significances & The Big Three)

About the Research

Aim

Example Fan Poster Displays

Methodology

Key Findings

Official vs Fan Art

Content

Reinforce & Evoke

Identity & Connection

Space Shapes Meaning

Physical & Digital

Frameworks

The Three Significances

Aesthetic Significance

Functional Significance

Personal / Spatial Significance How posters hold emotional and symbolic meaning.

The Big Three

Content

Design

Colour

PhD Online Survey Summary

PhD Online Survey Summary

Research Contribution & Why it matters

References

Download

Windows of Fantasy: The Significance of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Film and Television Posters
Dr Rhianna M. Morse
PhD (Film & Television Studies, Brunel University London)

Fans don’t just watch stories — they live them on their walls.

This page presents a summary of my PhD research on fan culture, focusing on how posters shape identity, space, and everyday life in the home.

Findings summarised from Morse (2025a; 2025b).

Personal / Spatial Significance
How posters hold emotional and symbolic meaning.

Research Contribution &
Why it matters