"In television series, we identify with characters that we would detest in real life," or so claims Alberto N. García, professor in the School of Communication and an ICS collaborator in the Emotional Culture and Identity project in the seminar "The Lucifer effect. Anti-heroism and television narrative."

"We hold a perverse loyalty toward the anti-hero" as he explained, "because the story mixes appalling character traits (for example, the case of a criminal) with other television or film elements that win us to his side, including music, voiceovers, close-ups ... and especially because he is found in situations where we want him to overcome."

Among the strategies that are used to reinforce this identification, Professor Garcia mainly stressed that in series there is a sustained relationship with the television character for an extended time. "This is key because we establish a relationship of familiarity with him throughout the seasons. During this time, we are able to notice many more nuances than when a character is presented in film. We were attracted to the complexity," he added.

A sustained relationship with the character over time

In his view, this alignment with the main character is reinforced because "in the time spent with him throughout the episodes, we see him in different spheres and we end up appreciating his positive characteristics. Although we do not approve of everything he does, we empathize with him."

Along with this, he indicated that other factors favoring this identification include presenting the character as a victim of his circumstances, fate, others... and comparison with other characters of lower moral caliber.

"The villain can have some charisma, but his actions are morally wrong and are always relegated to antagonism. On the contrary, the antihero is vitalized by his moral contradiction," he said.

This seminar was organized by ICS and is related to the forthcoming book Emotions and TV Series (Palgrave Macmillan), which includes the presentations from the international conference "Emotions and Identity in Contemporary TV Series" in expanded form. The conference took place in 2013 and was organized by the ICS's Emotional Culture and Identity project, which is supported by Zurich Insurance.

Leer el blog de Alberto N. García 'Diamantes en serie'