Why Do We Invest So Much in Fictional Characters?

[Cast No Shadow]

Why do we?

What is it about us that makes us so passionate about fictional characters? I mean, they're just words on a script, acted out by people who are completely separate from the character they play.

So why is it that time after time, we fall in love with characters in books, and on screen?

I'm not saying this as a criticism, I do it all the time.

One example, so many of us (me included) was devastated when Jenny died in S2, but why? Why did we care so much for Giles, and why were we so upset?

I have my own opinions on this, but I'd love to hear some of yours 🙂

 

[Nix]

Because I loose myself in the story and the characters to escape real life. It's a way of letting the imagination go and relaxing even if it makes me cry. Oh and its entertaining lol.

 

[Cast No Shadow]

Because I lose myself in the story and the characters to escape real life. It's a way of letting the imagination go and relaxing even if it makes me cry. Oh and its entertaining lol.

True, I also think that we identify with them on some level, and see aspects of ourselves in characters.

I also think basic human nature comes into it, if you're a good person, you want good things to happen for other good people, and when it doesn't happen, such as in the example I stated in the original post, you feel for them.

 

[Steven123]

I think we get so attached to them,atleast in some cases because we can relate to them or we like something about the character,especially with a long running series like Buffy & AtS,as a fan,your there from the beginning,you get to go through everything that they go through together,and you also get to "know them" from start to finish.

Once you start it just becomes natural for you to like & dislike certain characters. They can make you happy,sad,laugh,cry,feel better,feel bad and a range of other emotions.

Some people like to escape from the stress of every day life and to "imagine" that they are part of it,which just gives you more of a connection.

I don't suppose there's any real reason why we do so,can't say i would have it any other way 🙂

 

[sisterofmercy]

Yeah I think you just identify with them and so you form a kind of attachment to them.

The levels of fandom that some people have is a bit strange though. I love fictional characters but I think some people take it a bit too far (I blame Tumblr). But still, it's not hurting anyone I guess.

 

[patriot1123]

I agree with all of this, and would add that investment in emotional characters is a way of feeling a range of intense emotions ... without anything actually at stake. I can love Giles, without worrying about whether he will love me back. I can cry and feel profoundly sad over a character's death, but with the underlying realization (even if it's subconscious) that nobody really died. That's the beauty of the fictional world that talent (writing, direction, acting) creates for us - a chance to realize the full range of emotions without anything actually ever being at stake.

 

[Summerlilly]

I agree with all of this, and would add that investment in emotional characters is a way of feeling a range of intense emotions ... without anything actually at stake. I can love Giles, without worrying about whether he will love me back. I can cry and feel profoundly sad over a character's death, but with the underlying realization (even if it's subconscious) that nobody really died. That's the beauty of the fictional world that talent (writing, direction, acting) creates for us - a chance to realize the full range of emotions without anything actually ever being at stake.

Yes, it's the fact that we care so much even though we know it's not real. That's the fascinating part. I mean, who's never enjoyed a movie or show? I can't think of a single person that I've ever met. We are emotional creatures by nature (some more than other's 😉) I love feeling wrapped up in a journey, rather it's a movie, a book, or just a story told by a fire. It allows us to flex our imaginations. Even if we didn't write it or make it, we can choose to believe in it. It allows escapism but also makes us feel things we may never experience otherwise. We feel empathy, love, hate, confusion, lust, amusement, all of it for characters that we identify with in some way or know that we could never be lilke. Metaphors were Joss's specialty and that's what keeps me drawn to Buffy and Angel. 😉

 

[Xin Rong]

We lose ourselves as an escape, because we enjoy it and because it is cathartic. Personally I feel that I am trying to find answers for my own life in the lives/pretend lives of others... and Buffy is exceptionally good for this, which may seem strange considering the nature of the show.

 

[Seeing Red]

Well, for myself, I am able to connect with certain characters. I am able to see what I am or have gone threw in them. Also, I feel for certain fictional characters. The characters that I connect with, when they hurt, I hurt. I guess it could be described as a one sided bond with the character, and you are able to love them almost regardless of what they do. I am unsure if anyone else has ever felt this way, but this is how I feel about one or two characters.

 

[SlayerFest]

I care if certain characters die, like I might think, "Oh I hope he/she doesn't die, I love them!" but I wouldn't call it an attachment. The only time that I actually screamed in agony/despair about something that happened on television, was when Wesley kidnapped Connor 🙁 and I guess I do get pretty damn worked up when people on t.v./in movies don't stick up for themselves or say what I want them to say haha like in Empty Places, I wish that Buffy had brought certain.things. up.

But I also feel that way when I watch movies that are kind of bad or shows with crap character development...so it rarely has anything to do with me liking the character/having an attachment to them. I think it just has to do with me loving to yell at the television (was that worded properly?). I just get what I like to call "pretend mad", which is when I go on a mini rant about why some idiot on t.v. has done something idiotic and what they should have done instead.

Those are fun.

 

[wickedtiger86]

For me, I think it can be really easy to identify with characters. They are written so that you can see them, in every moment.

Like when Buffy was crying in her room, all alone, after Angel lost his soul, that's an intensely private moment, and it is something that we all have, but you don't get to see that in other people, because they are personal private moments.

Because of that, I think it actually can be easier to identify and relate to fictional characters, and that can make a person form an attachment to them. Especially if these characters react to situations admirably, or in the same way that we would.

I hope that made sense. 😀

 

[OhWow]

You get lost in a world far more epic than your own. Not in a bad way either, it's fun. And the characters are of course part of that world, the center even.

 

[Ripper666]

You can escape into a world inwhich you can't make any mistakes. But you can blame and critizise others. You can lern from them and draw lines into you real life! You compare and share the feelings the characters have. There is no wrong and right, there is fun and action, may you see something which you whished you could have in real life too! (Personally I wished I could have my (hell damn) driver-license just as Xander!). You're part of a group, for example right here the BB-Gang! 😀 You find a identity in the show. That's so great!

 

[SpikesGrrl4Real]

So many good reasons 🙂 It's also just good fun. I agree with most of what everyone else said, but also that it makes us feel more real.

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

I'm desperatly trying to remember my Literary Criticism class, because I remembered we discussed this.

I believe we become invested in fictional characters through identification. We see ourselves in them. Therefore, we feel a special connection, we can understand, root for them in their struggles, etc. You might not know what it is about a character you identify with, but regardless, you'll know because they'll be the one you are most affected by. For instance, my reaction to the whole Twilight reveal was literally physical. I felt physically sick, and it became clear to me at that moment that I LOVED these characters more then I've ever loved any fictional verse, ever. I wasn't sad and angry because we'd "lost" Angel, but rather I was angry he'd do that to Buffy. Because she is who is I, who in the end, tend to side with.

Hope that made sense. There is a whole theory to this though. If I can dig up that book, I will be back to explain this further.

 

[Kean]

For instance, my reaction to the whole Twilight reveal was literally physical. I felt physically sick, and it became clear to me at that moment that I LOVED these characters more then I've ever loved any fictional verse, ever. I wasn't sad and angry because we'd "lost" Angel, but rather I was angry he'd do that to Buffy. Because she is who is I, who in the end, tend to side with.

I read some of the threads from when the covers were leaked and I swear to God it is insane to see how upset we all were. My posts were like walk through the stages of grief. It's ridiculous.

As for the original question: I don't really know. I don't know why this verse registers with me in a visceral way. Even when now, what I would really love, is to not care anymore.

SMG gave an interview during S7 and it she was asked who Buffy was to her, and she replied "She's like a really close friend". And that is the only response that I think I could give to this question. Buffy and Angel are like really close friends to me. That's why I lose my shh... when things like the Twilight reveal happen. Especially then, because Buffy and Angel hold equal importance to me as characters and I don't have a side. I have both.

What I don't understand is why it is only the Buffyverse that I have this kind of investment in. I haven't felt that BTVS/ATS were the best or my favourite shows for a very long time. I haven't watched them deliberately in years. There are shows I think were better, smarter, more entertaining but I don't get involved like I did Buffy. And it is not like I haven't found other characters that I admire or identify completely with.

What I will say, is that I find it exhausting more than thrilling to be invested in these characters. I'd much rather to be able to enjoy Buffy and Angel the way I do the West Wing or Friends or Dead Man Walking. This all or nothing fanning is just...hard. lol

 

[white avenger]

I think that one of the main reasons that we become so invested in these characters is that we come to know them so well, on a far more intimate level that we ever get to know anyone real, even our closest friends. We see their actions, we know their thoughts and motivations, their fears, the things that they fear or are contemptuous of, their shames and the things in which they take pride. The character in a novel, short story, or, to a somewhat lesser level, play, movie, or TV show is unable to hide anything from us, because we not only hear their words, we know, either immediately or eventually, their most private thoughts. Nothing is hidden from us. That being the case, we can choose our literary "friends" knowing exactly the kind of person that they really are. Our heroes are more heroic because we are privy to their innermost thoughts. Our villains are more evil because we know just how despicable they really are. Plus, we are able to be far more free with our judgement of those characters. I don't have to worry about hurting Black Bart's feelings or fear any retribution when I call him a dirty, low down, back shooting, horse stealing, dog kicking desperado. I don't have to worry about getting my face slapped when I say that Sweet Sue is the kind of girl who I have always dreamed of... well, that part's just between me and Sue. But you get the point. We become more invested in fictional characters simply because we can do so without any consequences in doing so. It's all of the pleasure, and none of the pain, of a real relationship, and, as long as we keep it within that perspective, it is totally harmless to all concerned.

 

[PassionBecoming]

I ask myself this all of the time. "Why are you so upset? It's not real!" But I think it's because we enjoy the show and the characters. And the reason we enjoy it/them is because we relate to them in some way, so when they go through something, be it happy or sad, it relates back to ourselves.

Also, it's just a nice escape from reality when we need it. It's a place to experience a whole range of emotions without having the actual effects on our lives.

 

[white avenger]

I ask myself this all of the time. "Why are you so upset? It's not real!"

But then again, to the fans, the REAL fans, it is, in a way, real. I don't mean that we expect to run into Buffy or Angel or Mal Reynolds somewhere on the street someday. We know in our minds that it's all just the brainchild of one man and a staff of writers, but in our hearts, it's an entirely different matter altogether. To use a non-Buffyverse example to illustrate my point, I saw middle aged men literally cry at the end of "The Wrath Of Kahn" when it premiered, and we had already been pretty much warned that Spock was, indeed, going to die. To this very day, the words, "I have been, and always shall be, your friend," give me a tightness in the throat whenever I hear them. Intellectually, I knew that Spock was just a role, and Mr Nimoy got up and went home to dinner after the director yelled "Cut!" Just an actor playing a role, but, dammit, it was a role that we had grown up up with, a character who we had come to know and love, and it just plain HURT.

So we become invested in these characters, we come to know them as well as, and sometimes more than, we know our best friends. And we share that with other fans, becoming like the soldiers on St Crispin's Day. "We few. We lucky few. we band of brothers," and let's not forget the sisters.

 

[Kairos]

Because the rabbits are us.

That's a quote from my favorite movie, during a scene in which the main character, a high school student, angrily asks his teacher why they should care about the rabbits in Watership Down. Her reply, that the rabbits are us, doesn't satisfy him, but I think it's a succinct way to describe the fiction experience.

I've always cared a little too much about fiction, with the Buffyverse being just the most recent incarnation (and, like Kean, I have no idea why this is the one that drew me in to this degree and in this particular way). Most of my growth as a person seems to have happened in response to the questions posed by what I was reading or watching, rather than in response to what happened to me in real life.

But, you know, you can't really count on things to happen to you in real life. If you wonder how it feels to be saddled with the responsibility to save the world from vampires, you're not going to find out by being Chosen. If you want to know what it's like to have to kill your lover, you probably won't find someone who can tell you. Those moments are still relevant to the situations you will find in your own life, though, and it's an enormous relief to already have some basis on which to consider them before you're caught struggling to make the big decisions on your own.

And then, once you've made the comparisons, the empathy kicks in. You realize how much pressure is on Buffy to do her duty, how much heartbreak she endured when she lost her love. You see her crying and you know, from firsthand experience, why she's crying. And you think that maybe if she's happy, you can be happy, too.

The rabbits are always us.