Values, Emotion, Identity: Responses to Character

This chapter provides an in-depth discussion of the data gathered in response to the questions on character in the five Post-screening Surveys. Beginning by outlining some of the theoretical work relating to the concepts of identification and character engagement, the chapter notes the central role played by emotion in this process, observing that in a genre such as the period drama, in which male and female characters are typically depicted as emotionally expressive, this aspect is likely to be even more significant. The chapter then considers the responses to gender, ethnicity and class in the survey data. The popularity of the strong female character is observed, although the chapter also notes that there may be limits to this, with the character of Bathsheba Everdene in Far from the Madding Crowd proving less popular with participants. The chapter also notes that whilst characters struggling against discrimination were often popular, participants did not necessarily gravitate towards those characters that might be seen to reflect their own demographic characteristics. Instead, the significance of values is clear, with participants often favouring characters who represented their own values.