In this subsection, there is discussion on different ways that characters and their stories can cause an emotional reaction while providing other benefits for the audience. Characters can evoke different emotions, while helping with identity development. These characters can also provide a sense of connection if the audience has gone through a similar situation as the characters.
Characters offer different types of fulfillment by evoking emotions, an escape from a person’s ordinary live, and providing the need for human connection.22 Tuning into a piece of media that is episodic (TV show, movie franchise, or lengthy video game) can be similar to talking to a friend.23 A character could be there in times of hardship when a person watches the media during a tough time in their lives. The character could make the audience member laugh, make them cry, and show them that they understand what they are going through.
22 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.
23 M. Hu, "The Influence of a Scandal on Parasocial Relationship, Parasocial Interaction, and Parasocial Breakup," Psychology of Popular Media Culture 5, no. 3 (2016): 217–231, https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000068.
Characters and the audiences that follow these stories could be going through the same emotions, events, or in similar circumstances. Other times, people can experience the characters and their situations vicariously. The aspect of empathy could be an important part of parasocial relationships for the person that has these connections since it is a response to another’s emotions and is related to the intensity of the relationship.24 Feeling the experiences that the character goes through in their point of view could enhance the parasocial relationship by giving the audience a more intense connection to the character. Also, when characters go through similar events as a person watching them, a more intense connection can be built.
24 J. L. Derrick, S. Gabriel, and B. Tippin, "Parasocial Relationships and Self-Discrepancies: Faux Relationships Have Benefits for Low Self-Esteem Individuals," Personal Relationships 15, no. 2 (2008): 261.
25 M. Sullivan, "Counseling, Psychotherapy, and Play-Based Interventions," in Counseling, Psychotherapy, and Play-Based Interventions, 227–242 (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2008), accessed April 3, 2025, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/lesley/detail.action?docID=10265273.
Living vicariously through viewing, playing, or reading the characters’ experiences can help provide a place for safety, connection and resolution of problems. Sullivan has witnessed, through working with clients that read different comics, that seeing other personas go through similar experiences, such as adolescence, can create a feeling of connection.25 Seeing someone go through these experiences will allow for a person to see how to work through certain problems and life events, especially if the person is having shame, guilt or fear of revealing these problems to someone in their lives. For example, the show Big Mouth on Netflix is about puberty and shows the characters having experiences, thoughts, and feelings that children going through their adolescence may be ashamed of telling their parents and/or guardians about.