ABSTRACT

Characters are central to our experiences of screened fictions and invite a host of questions. The contributors to Screening Characters draw on archival material, interviews, philosophical inquiry, and conceptual analysis in order to give new, thought-provoking answers to these queries. Providing multifaceted accounts of the nature of screen characters, contributions are organized around a series of important subjects, including issues of class, race, ethics, and generic types as they are encountered in moving image media. These topics, in turn, are personified by such memorable figures as Cary Grant, Jon Hamm, Audrey Hepburn, and Seul-gi Kim, in addition to avatars, online personalities, animated characters, and the ensembles of shows such as The Sopranos, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad.

chapter |15 pages

introduction

screening characters

part 1|57 pages

the importance of actors

chapter 1|20 pages

seeing and hearing screen characters

stars, twofoldness, and the imagination

chapter 2|18 pages

character and the star vehicle

the impact of casting cary grant

chapter 3|19 pages

character collaborations

the writer–actor relationship in mad men

part 2|52 pages

social types, social contexts

chapter 4|16 pages

being typical and being individual

chapter 5|17 pages

the mark of the social

stereotypes, folk psychology, and metonymy in mainstream film

part 3|61 pages

medium-specific features and constraints

chapter 7|14 pages

impossible characterizations

chapter 8|17 pages

performative metamorphosis

animated characters and spectator proximity

chapter 10|14 pages

owning our actions

identification with avatars in video games

part 4|59 pages

emotional and moral engagement

chapter 12|22 pages

absorbed character engagement

from social cognition responses to the experience of fictional constructions

chapter 13|17 pages

“familiarity breeds contempt”

why fascination, rather than repeat exposure, better explains the appeal of antiheroes on television

part 5|55 pages

the character within genre

chapter 14|15 pages

girls who can leap through time

shojo and time travel in east asian media

chapter 15|18 pages

action and affordances

the action hero’s skilled and surprising use of the environment

chapter 16|20 pages

introducing characters in television crime series

stylistic and narrative strategies