The Value of Media Studies Approaches for the Evaluation of Entertainment Education: A Case Study of East Los High

Abstract

As entertainment education (EE) becomes an increasingly popular medium for delivering health information, evaluation of EE is key to better understanding how it not only influences audiences but also how it can be better implemented. We suggest that EE evaluation has largely focused on impact while its implementation, specifically through narrative, characters, and genre, has remained unexplored. We propose drawing from theories and methods used in media studies to complement current approaches to understanding and evaluation of EE that can help improve EE for health education. East Los High serves as a case study, through which we examine the characters and the narrative demands of the telenovela genre to reveal a disproportional depiction of Latino men and women that ultimately replays familiar Latino stereotypes of criminality and exaggerated sexuality. We discuss the implications this has on the show’s ability to do public health work.