Parasocial relationships are one-sided admirations of a character, celebrity, or other media figure.4 Audience members create a bond to specific characters in the media that they are consuming. These bonds can be either platonic or romantic, as people sometimes develop crushes on these fictional characters. Even though these characters live in the fictional realm, real feelings develop in a parasocial relationship.
The study of parasocial relationships has been a continuing pursuit for many years. The term was coined by Horton and Wohl in 1956, for the relationship that audience members had created with media figures on television.5 Even though this work was originally based on media figures that were live action stars, the study of these relationships can be applied to fictional characters and the bond that is created by the audience members watching them. In the following subsections, different aspects of parasocial relationships are discussed, including the development of the relationship, emotions evoked, romantic feelings, video games’ active role of characters and fandoms of different medias.
This first subsection is on the development of a parasocial relationship. There is discussion on how these relationships are formed by individuals with their favorite media characters. The relationship can be built through multiple viewings,6 7 through parasocial interactions, and by familiarity of the same characters in a new form of the media. 8
6 J. Kokesh and M. Sternadori, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: A Qualitative Study of How Young Adult Fiction Affects Identity Construction," Atlantic Journal of Communication 23, no. 3 (2015): 139–158, https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2015.1013104.
7 S. E. Branch, K. M. Wilson, and C. R. Agnew, "Committed to Oprah, Homer, or House: Using the Investment Model to Understand Parasocial Relationships," Psychology of Popular Media Culture 2, no. 2 (2013): 96–109, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030938.
8 A. E. Hall, "Identification and Parasocial Relationships with Characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens," Psychology of Popular Media Culture (2017), https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000160.
4 S. E. Branch, K. M. Wilson, and C. R. Agnew, "Committed to Oprah, Homer, or House: Using the Investment Model to Understand Parasocial Relationships," Psychology of Popular Media Culture 2, no. 2 (2013): 96–109, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030938.
5 S. E. Branch, K. M. Wilson, and C. R. Agnew, "Committed to Oprah, Homer, or House: Using the Investment Model to Understand Parasocial Relationships," Psychology of Popular Media Culture 2, no. 2 (2013): 96–109, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030938.