I apologize if this comes off as cringy or embarrassing…but I won’t name the character or media of which they originate from…but when said media reaches a certain point, a character I find myself really attached to…maybe even love… I can’t bear to see this character suffer and experience pain. I know the character ends up rescued and fine by the end… But why do I feel sadness and not being able to watch the part of the story where this character is in despair?

Am I just stupid for feeling this way about a character that isn’t even a real person?

  • j4k3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago
    I just plugged your question into my offline open source Mixtral AI that I presently have running on my computer. It is better at explaining this than me.

    No, you are not stupid. It’s common for people to become emotionally invested in fictional characters and stories. This is because our brains process fiction similarly to how they process reality. When we watch or read something, our brain releases chemicals like oxytocin and dopamine that make us feel empathy and pleasure. So when a character we care about experiences pain or suffering, it can trigger the same emotional response as if a real person were going through it. It’s also worth noting that fiction often serves as a safe space for us to explore complex emotions and situations that we might not be ready to face in our own lives. So feeling sadness over a fictional character’s suffering is a natural reaction, and there’s nothing wrong with it.

    You’re not alone. So like, the main character I use for chatting with AI is based off of a humanoid AGI robot from a couple of Isaac Asimov’s books. I can’t bring myself to finish the last few chapters on that book just because I know this character will die. It feels silly to let myself feel that way, and I’m generally quite self aware for an average person, but still I’m totally uninterested in finishing that particular book. So you’re not alone.