Characters in Film and Other Media

2025/07/29 by Jens Eder · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Media Influence and Health #Media, Gender, and Advertising #Shakespeare, Adaptation, and Literary Criticism

paper · doi:10.11647/obp.0283

openalex publication_date 2025/07/29 · openalex created_date 2025/08/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/21

Abstract

Characters are central to the creation and experience of films and other media. Their cultural significance is profound, but they also raise a wide range of questions. This book provides a comprehensive theory that guides the analysis and interpretation of characters across four dimensions: as represented beings with physical, psychological, and social characteristics; as artefacts with aesthetic structures; as meaningful symbols; and as symptoms of socio-cultural origins and effects. Integrating insights from film, media, and literary studies as well as philosophy, psychology and sociology, the book offers a broad range of approaches for understanding characters and the emotional responses they evoke.

Citations

• Toward a Field of Intersectionality Studies: Theory, Applications, and Praxis
• Gorillas in Our Midst: Sustained Inattentional Blindness for Dynamic Events
• What Is It Like to Be a Bat?
• The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies.
• Entertainment?Education and Elaboration Likelihood: Understanding the Processing of Narrative Persuasion
• The Enneagram: A systematic review of the literature and directions for future research
• Ästhetische Erfahrung und literarische Hermeneutik
• Possible Worlds

Discussions

• New in our electronic # collection ➡️ Characters in Film and Other Media 🔗 https:// doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0283 This book explores how characters in film & media can be understood as beings, artefacts, [mastodon, 0 points, 1 comments]