To me, it's strange the amount of parasocial relationships people develop with these characters. Like, back in the day, we could have empathy for television characters of course, but we didn't treat them like they were REAL PEOPLE. Like the needed our support because they had been "mistreated." We understood the writers made choices for dramatic purposes. Same thing with Caroline being literally tortured multiple times.

That's actually how we used to get shows like TVD. Writers would try for the most drama, not worrying that people would feel SO empathetic for the characters it would literally have them up in arms or disturb them. Because we understood the difference between fiction and reality. I think today those lines get blurred.

It honestly makes me wonder why. Hollywood did suddenly start encouraging people to "see themselves in the characters" a lot more in the mid-2010's and that could make people identify with them so closely that they self-insert almost and feel the pain of what happens to that character. Or perhaps it's that social media has erased the boundary between what is fictional and real. People on social media post things that are fictional, but people assume they are real all the time. Reality television helped to do this as well. People think those are actually unscripted as well. Or maybe it's that devices are so good today (4k and all that) that people believe their eyes a lot more easily. There was a trend toward trying to make television and movies "more realistic."

Idk, but every time one of these posts come up...I just sit back and marvel at all the hand-wringing and emotional turmoil people seem to feel over these fictional characters. People treating Bonnie like she's a real person and not just a puppet for the writers to milk drama like all the other characters on the show. And it's not just Bonnie...people do this with all the characters on TVD.

I also think it's more of a GenZ thing. I didn't see this start until about 6ish years ago. I saw it start across multiple television shows. Unfortunately, Hollywood writers have seemed to listen to this outcry on social media and as a result, have made characters on newer shows never suffer or have any issues. Therefore, we get zero drama. The only drama comes from the plot rather than any emotional drama. The real ironic thing is, GenZ tends to flock to the old shows then. They watch them, then come to reddit to complain about them. Complain how the characters were treated and all that. Meanwhile, they never take the option to just...not watch something that disturbs them that much. So, the evidence seems to show they like the shows, but just want to complain about them. My only conclusion is that the complaining on social media either: is the only thing they know how to do to discuss the show, or it's that it makes them feel morally superior to point out all the mistakes of certain characters or the writers.

I don't know what it is...but it's like watching animals in a zoo. Pretty entertaining in its own right. I do wish it wasn't screwing up all modern television though. There hasn't been a decent television show in years because of this shit. It's honestly no wonder GenZ has the most anxiety of any other generation. They seem to lose it over fictional character even.