Spectatorship and Identification in "Sleepless in Seattle"

Spectatorship in the cinema refers to the relationship between a film (its content, and how this content is portrayed), and the film's viewer (or spectator). The use of the term 'relationship' in cinematic spectatorship applies to the way a spectator acts in response to the content they see in the film. Filmmakers, when creating a film, are often looking for a specific response from their audience. For instance, the director of a horror film, such as Wes Craven's "Scream" (1996) and William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" (1973), attempt to make their audience scared, while directors of comedy films, for instance; Billy Madison (Tamra Davis, 1995) and "Mrs. Doubtfire" (Chris Columbus, 1993), make these films with the intention of making the audience laugh. This idea of a specific response from the audience, which is encouraged by a film is referred to by Hayward in 'Key Concepts in Cinema Studies' as a 'preferred reading' of a text (333).…