Why+We+Grieve+Fictional+Characters

Holmes, Lindsey. "Why We Grieve Fictional Characters", Huffington Post, April 29, 2015. Web.

In this Huffington Post article, Lindsey Holmes recalls her past experiences dealing with the deaths of some of her favorite fictional characters. She remembers being deeply saddened, weeping over these characters as if they were some of her closest friends. She would have to call one of her friends to help console her, and they would tenderly remind her that what she’s grieving over is “just a tv show”. As it turns out, statistics show that many avid fans of various tv shows or films have the same sort of reactions when their favorite characters are killed off.

There is actually a psychological reason behind this phenomenon. Robert Rowney, a staff psychiatrist at the Cleveland Clinic, explains that for many, these characters are an escape from the everyday stresses of life. Viewers are exposed to literally every aspect of a character’s deepest struggles; their worries, insecurities, losses, all the same things that we go through. We can grow to become extremely attached to these characters, because we empathize deeply with them. They seem like real people to us. So naturally, while it may be very different than grieving the loss of a relative or close friend, being deeply distraught by the death of a character that you’ve grown to love is a totally natural reaction.