Fictional characters can affect psychologically, you know!

An interesting fictional story often makes the audience immersed in the storyline. As in the film, the fictional characters in the film's story can feel real and psychologically affect the audience.

Movie viewers can join in crying, disappointed, and angry during the show. In fact, sometimes, it can stick around for some time afterward. Why did it happen?

The fictional character in a broadcast influences the audience psychologically

Fiction connoisseurs are often immersed in the story and get carried away with emotions, such as feelings of sadness and anger that make them cry. The characters in a fictional story can feel so real that they psychologically influence the audience to feel happy or sad.

For example, Korean dramas "The World of the Married" which portrays an ironic married life. The life of Ji Sun-woo, the main female character in the story, looks perfect at first. She is successful in career and has a very loving husband. However, suddenly complicated conflict and betrayal destroys it all.

Ji Sun-woo and Lee Tae-oh are told as a married couple who love each other. Episode two of the drama presents the couple's romantic flashback moments, where Tae Oh (the husband) promises a lifetime of love.

Then the scene returns to the present, showing the moment Tae-oh's affair with Da-kyung, a young woman who is considered a friend by Sun-woo.

The drama, which is also broadcast on the national TV station, is able to stir the emotions of the Indonesian audience. To the point that, the actress who played the character Da-kyung became the subject of bullying by Indonesian netizens because she was considered a relationship destroyer.

In addition, there are many examples of characters in fictional stories that feel so real and can evoke emotions from the audience. One of them is a film "Joker" (2019) which is said to be able to make many viewers short of breath and anxious.

This condition shows that the audience can connect with the fictional character psychologically or emotionally. Interestingly, these emotions don't apply to everyone. Although some were sobbing, there were also viewers who did not feel any emotion.

Why can a fictional character feel so real?

One of the reasons the audience can actually feel the emotions of the characters in the film is because of the feelings of empathy and sympathy. There is an element of connection between the characters and the audience's life in the real world.

"Experiences with fictional characters relate to the audience, due to the fact that everyone has deep experiences throughout their life," explains Howard Sklar, a philology researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland who is also the author of the book. The Art Sympathy of Fiction .

Empathy and sympathy are phenomena we experience almost on a daily basis. These experiences influence how we psychologically respond to fictional characters.

To quote the scientific Stanford Encyclopedia article, empathy allows us to experience the feelings of others or at least imagine what feelings other people are experiencing.

This feeling of empathy can then lead to sympathy, namely the ability to understand that another person is experiencing pain. Feelings of sympathy often encourage someone to want to help or reduce the pain.

The point of view in constructing each character in a fictional story allows the audience to psychologically imagine the character's pain. Viewers can feel the pain from a distance, just like what happens in Korean dramas "The World of the Married" .

The emotions that the audience felt for Sun-woo were sparked by the actor and actress' extraordinary acting. Maybe the audience has never experienced being cheated on by a lover like what happened to Sun-woo, but they can still feel the emotion.

"As long as there is an emotional point of view, our psychological ability to perceive fictional characters will go beyond all the details in the story," said Sklar.

Phenomenon narrative transportation while enjoying fictional stories

Feelings of empathy for a fictional character in a book or film are also mentioned narrative transportation. It is a situation where the audience feels included and involved in the plot of a story so that it can affect their attitude in real life, even after they have finished reading or watching the film.

In this phenomenon, the audience's feelings of empathy reach a stage as if they can position themselves as that character. Fictional characters that affect a person's psychological and feelings of empathy can also be good.

"The power of protagonists from fictional stories and films can inspire viewers and even serve as role models and inspire to pursue dreams," wrote a journal in American Psychological Association .