crosspost: sympathetic frameworks

[anghraine]

An anon on Tumblr asked:

What do you think makes a character (heroic or villainous) sympathetic in terms of how they're portrayed by the narrative? It's one of those things I think I can pretty easily identify when I see it, but at the same time I've always struggled to come up with any kind of defined criteria.

I don’t think there really are defined criteria, tbh. For one, people react differently, and for another, it tends to function differently with different types of characters, and overall it’s more a collection of trends that often increase sympathy than criteria per se. Some things that come to mind, though:

- showing them doing a kind or at least well-intentioned thing(or things), particularly if the person they do them far is particularly vulnerable (a child, an animal), and particularly if it’s unexpected for them or the situation

- reference to the character’s past/what made them who they are, usually with considerable emphasis; this is very often tragic, either in itself or in wider context

- highlighting good qualities (e.g., devotion, courage, intelligence, ethics), particularly when contrasted with very real flaws

- showing the character as very capable or skilled at whatever it is they do, particularly when they’re surrounded by people who are very much less so 

- showing the character’s connections to other people, both in terms of how those people view the character and how the character relates to them—again, this is stronger if unexpected or somewhat atypical for their type

- giving the character flaws that are familiar from ordinary life, either directly or writ large(/metaphorical), and treating them as flaws—but not irredeemable flaws

- emphasis on the character’s emotions: again, particularly if it’s not what you’d normally expect from them or from a character of their type, esp joy or suffering

I’m sure there are others! But IMO those are all signals that a character is at least being framed sympathetically, even if it doesn’t succeed at actually garnering sympathy for them.