THE PROBLEM WITH THE AFTER-CARE OF COMFORT CHARACTERS IN TELEVISION

Kayley

Published in

Clippings Autumn 2021

7 min readNov 30, 2021

By an after-care enthusiast.

For: unpublishedzine.com

Comfort characters, and my personal experience with them

There has always been something almost…‘comforting’ about watching a television show or movie when there’s a character you have connected with.

Whilst, technically, the term comfort character isn’t in the Oxford dictionary, and it did start as a slang term used by people on the internet (1), these two simple words have helped a lot of people categorize what they were feeling, and why they might have loved a character from whatever entertainment they’ve consumed.

When I say ‘connected’, however, it doesn’t always need to mean someone you see yourself in…

A couple of months ago, when I was watching the french show, ‘Mortel’ (2) I felt a strong connection to one of the main characters: Victor, but he and I don’t have the same problems. For starters, I didn’t make a blood-pact with someone I barely knew so that Obe, a supernatural being, could gift me powers. I wasn’t previously suicidal like he was and I don’t have an altered personality whose idea of ‘protecting’ me is killing my past abuser.

I did, however, find myself drawn to Victor: he went through so much but he was always there for his friends, and he was willing to do a lot of damage to himself to keep others safe. I saw myself in that aspect of him. He would always give his all to be there for everyone, but when he was forced to get admitted to a psychiatric facility, his best friends never bothered to send him letters or visit him. Victor had been through hell and back, but he was always consistently there for everyone, and something about that fact just made me want to find out more about him…why he was the way he was…how he coped with everything.

If I were to speak about the show in its entirety, I would say I found myself loving the ‘found family’ aspect ‘Mortel’ created. The friendship between the main characters: Victor, Sofiane and Luisa was something I cherished throughout the entirety of the show…although it was also something that angered me when Victor was being used…and by the time I had finished both seasons, I knew it wouldn’t be the last time I’d ever watch it. Since then, I have had both seasons of the show downloaded on Netflix and I plan on re-watching it when my University’s term ends for Christmas.

‘Mortel’ wasn’t even the only show where I’ve found a character I’ve sort of gotten a little bit attached to. From John Murphy in the 100 (3), and Klaus Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy (4), to the super-hero/side-kick Dick Grayson (5), originally known as the first Robin…and later on Nightwing, from the Batman franchise in DC comics (6).

John Murphy. The GIF is taken from Purefandom.com.

Why do comfort characters matter….

‘Comfort character’ is just the broad term for a character you develop a connection towards (7). Whether you can relate to their struggles, and you see yourself in them, or there’s just something about them that makes you seek them out when you’re having a bad day.

Comfort characters have historically helped people cope with situations in their lives, or their thoughts and feelings when there’s just an overwhelming amount of things happening. One quick google search will bring you to people’s stories with their comfort character, and how it has helped them cope with something in their lives. If you keep digging, you might find a lot of people find comfort in the same characters: Stiles Stilinski from Teen Wolf (8), Pheobe from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (9) Or Sherlock Holmes (10)… the list goes on and on.

You’ll find that most of these people online, who have publicly admitted who their ‘faves’ are, probably have what’s known as a ‘Stan account’ — or simply put, an account dedicated to that character, or that fandom.

What this does, allows someone to make friends, or follow people online who cherish the same characters like them. This creates a network of people who find comfort in the same show or character, which could create friends and give people an outlet they wouldn’t have had before.

I found a whole ‘Mortel’ fandom on Tumblr, with people who also cherish Victor and believe the same things as me, and that’s just for one fandom…no matter what show or movie it is, there are people online who cherish it just as much as you might.

Klaus Hargreeves. GIF is taken from Pinterest.

…and what’s the problem with them?

Whilst there isn’t necessarily a problem with the comfort characters themselves, there is a problem with television’s portrayal of them.

Too many times there will be a character in a television show who goes through the absolute most: whether it’s an injury, or something tragic and downright mean happening to them. Whatever the case may be, the character will usually either suffer silently, or they will be shown going through it and it’s never completely addressed before it just gets ignored altogether. Showing the aftermath of something detrimental or traumatic happening to a character is known as the ‘after-care’, and most shows neglect this side of things.

You might be thinking why this matters so much so let me give you some examples of shows neglecting this side, and why it would have been useful: (warning spoilers ahead: Teen Wolf, Mortel, The Umbrella Academy)

In season three of Teen Wolf, Stiles gets possessed by a supernatural being, does a lot of bad things and has nightmares about it. In season five, he accidentally kills someone in self-defence who was chasing him with intent to kill, he is once again distraught by that, but then gets trapped in a psychiatric facility that borderline torture Stiles and other people whilst they are staying there. Whilst Stiles is saved, you don’t ever really see the effects something like that would have on someone, especially as he’s pretty much the only human in the list of the main characters. He doesn’t have superpowers or transforms into a big, bad wolf. Perhaps seeing him face his traumas and show him seeking help or therapy afterwards would have been a good ‘after-care’ moment, and it would show the audience it’s okay to reach out for help, it’s okay to not always be alright. The only aftercare you get with Stiles is pretty much whilst he’s possessed by the nogitsune.
In Mortel: Victor, who starts off the show already being suicidal and having a previous attempt or two under his belt, gets paired together with Sofiane, who just wants to save his brother from the clutches of Obe. Sofiane ends up almost choking a defenceless Victor to death, who then continues to help Sofiane, and the issue isn’t addressed again. Once again this comes into the issue of, how would it affect the character? And why can’t we show it? If you are already showing the character have something traumatic happen to them, why can’t you show the aftermath it would have? Allowing your character to break down and be this fragile human being, just once, when he’s always trying his best is not only incredibly impactful, but it would most definitely help someone watching it to feel less alone.
In The Umbrella Academy, Klaus can see the dead, and his dead brother Ben is the only consistent ghost you see him interacting with. Klaus gets kidnapped and tortured for information he doesn’t know. He steals a time-travel machine and accidentally winds up in the past during the Second War. Klaus fights and falls in love with another solder, Dave and watches Dave get killed on the field. When he returns to the present, none of this gets properly addressed, he’s just kind of there whilst everyone else does what they need to, to save the world. His character just kind of bottles it up and doesn’t address what he’s been through, not entirely. Multiple episodes show Klaus going through it, but him getting better…getting help? Not so much.

Stiles Stilinski. The image is taken from teen-wolf-pack-fandom.com.

Conclusions

You might agree with me, or you might disagree with me, it’s a valid opinion either way. I just believe if you are going through the trouble of adding scenes where bad shit happens to good characters, why not add a scene or two of the after-care it would have? If you don’t want to address the traumatic side of things, maybe just show the ‘getting better’ part. Y’know, like the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’?