ABSTRACT
Character engagement is a central topic in the philosophy of film that has implications for several other philosophical issues. Although discussions of character engagement in film studies and philosophy tell us a lot, they are often confusing for at least two reasons. First, a variety of explanatory concepts gets used in these discussions, and few of these are used uniformly. Second, the experience of character engagement itself is highly complex. It refers to all and any elements of spectatorial experience that are based on or relate to characters. This encompasses several distinct types of relationship, a number of additional types of response, and connections among all of the different experiences.
