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I'm curious to know what others mean by "empathy," especially empathy with a fictional character.
Good question. For me, it is as simple as "does this character have motivations that feel like true, human motivations?" It is as simple as that.
I was able to have empathy for Thanos in Infinity War because his motives felt true. I didn't have to like him, or agree with him, but I understood where he was coming from and why he felt he needed to do what he did.
I have empathy for John Hammond because his motives, again, felt true. It felt true that a person may want to share his scientific discovery with the world in a way that is playful and fun. I don't agree with what he did (bringing dinosaurs to life and putting them in a park) but Micheal Crichton presented John Hammond's motive in such a way that it felt like a real thing a person might do, with a real emotional reason behind it.
I can have empathy for these characters, because I understand their motive, even if I don't agree with it. I don't have to like them, or love them, or agree with them. But if they feel true; if they have a real, human reason behind their actions, I can empathize.
Now.... if a character is presented to me with a motive that does not feel 'true'.... it is usually because of *edit: three reasons.
1) The writer didn't put in the effort to show the human reason behind the character's actions. The writer simply assumed I would care. This happens sometimes when writers uses tricks, like making characters purely good or purely evil.... We MUST care because the bad guy is sooooo bad! This is why I get bored of shows like The Walking Dead after a while. I get it. Zombies. Everyone is fending for themselves. There are a lot of bad people about.... blah blah blah.
2) The writer uses cliche cheap tricks to try to make me care, like child abuse, or death of a mother, or something like that.
3) The writer doesn't SHOW the reasons behind the character's actions, he/she just tells me "Sophie hates her life because everyone is so mean to her so one day she decides her get her revenge." Obviously no one is going write like that.... lol, but I do read some stories sometimes where I just don't feel, personally, that the actions/motivations are justified. The writer doesn't give me enough.
For some, it seems to mean simply caring about a character and her situation, or liking/loving a character.
No, it doesn't mean this, for me. I can empathize with Thanos without liking/loving or caring about him. I care about the Avengers finding and destroying him, but I can still empathize with his cause, because it feels true. Like a real thing a person might do.
This. can obviously be done from any POV. Close, distant, first person, omniscient, narrative, play, or film. It has nothing to do with how close I am in a character's head. It has to do with does their motive/goal feel real.
I have no empathy for a group of people simply for being a group of people. It's so hard for me when new writers say things like "I have this character who is a warrior, but she has no flaws. I need to think of some quirks to make her more relatable."
No. A simple warrior with a quirky personality will not earn my empathy. Cute personality traits will not make me care about her. Give her a quest that feels authentic. Give her real, human motivations to do what she does, and she could do some really bad stuff I would never agree with, but I will empathize with her.
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