Why Fictional Characters are so Important
To some people fictional characters are something created for our entertainment. You might view them as just make believe or cartoons. To me and other people, they are characters we wish existed. They feel like home to us. These characters have a special place in my heart, believe it or not we can relate to them on a deeper level and make humanely connections with them. We feel as they do, think and sometimes even act as they do. They are more than just entertainment to me and they are so important. They became my friends when no one else would and cheered me up on my dark days.
I was bullied a lot in my youth and it was hard for me to make friends due to my being shy. Whenever I would come home from school I would immediately grab a book to read or watch my favorite anime or cartoon. It was the highlight of my day. It was a way for me to escape my reality of feeling lonely and rejected and enter into a world where no one would make fun of me or cast me out. When I watched my favorite shows and movies it made me feel safe and secure.
I began to feel deep connections with the characters from my screen or page, I grew a deep love for them and saw them as my friends. Not only was I growing to love these characters but I was starting to relate to them in a way that I couldn’t with anyone at my school or in my family. There were certain characters that were looked down upon and also bullied like me. They were cast out and rejected but just longed to fit in and that was something that I felt every single day.
When Stan Lee talked about creating the X-Men, he stated that the concept of the mutants being hated and shunned from society represented a lot of what was going on during the time he created it and that it was an example to show just how terrible bigotry is. His main objective in creating the X-Men was to show how we, as people, should all get along no matter how different we are. That is what is so great about fictional characters: that they are created for us to relate to on a deeper level despite not having their powers.
The X-Men were not the only comic book characters that Lee used to touch on real life issues such as racism or inequality. Which are actual issues that we as people face today but he gave them other aspects that a real life person will go through as well. Now Lee isn’t the only one who did this when creating characters and these real life issues aren’t the only thing that fictional characters need to face or have in order for us to relate to them.
I later on met some people who also loved the characters that I did and I became friends with them. Because of these characters I eventually made the friends I always wanted and formed connections with them. I remember when I first joined Twitter and started to follow fan pages that had to do with fandoms that I loved. A group chat I was in talked about how they felt bad for Mirio, a character in the anime show called My Hero Academia.
In one of the episodes Mirio gets hurt and potentially looses his quirk (his superpower). It was something that he was very proud to have, it was something that gave him purpose so when he lost it, it was devastating to see. At first Mirio is upset and saddened by what has just happened to him but towards the end he gets an optimistic outlook. He decides that he doesn’t need his quirk to give him purpose. He doesn’t need it to fulfill his life long dream of being a hero and he plans to continue on the path he started when he had his quirk.
That was truly inspiring. One of my friends who was apart of that group chat said she related to Mirio a lot. She was so upset when she found out that she had lost the ability to walk. Her life long dream of becoming a ballet dancer suddenly slipped through her fingers.
For awhile she said she had no hope until she realized she didn’t need her legs to achieve her life long dream. She came to a realization that she could still be involved in ballet and start a new dream, which involved her teaching ballet to young girls at her local dance studio. So just like Mirio, my friend also found hope and decided to keep pressing on with life and that is pretty amazing.
Now people are starting to realize just how much fictional characters make an impact on peoples lives. Not only do these fictional worlds help you make friends or brighten up your day but they also help make you feel loved and accepted for who you are. They encourage you to be your authentic self and not to let other people bring you down or make you feel less than you are.
For example the show called “Steven Universe” touched on a lot of things that we go through in our everyday lives. They were even the first kids show on U.S television to feature a lesbian wedding. This made many of their lgbtq+ fans feel seen and accepted. In the very last season of the show the creator, Rebecca Sugar, has the main character struggle with anxiety and other mental health issues. Many fans applaud her for this and thanked her for showing that it is a normal thing that people struggle with.
Fictional characters are more than just entertainment; they are friends, a safe place and they are our home. They comfort us in times of need, make us feel seen and heard, but most of all bring a smile to our face even on the darkest of days. They are always there for us and never leave our side. I encourage you to see if there is a character you can relate to in a deep way and see what happens! Get lost in their world and enjoy the laughter they bring you.
