TV Viewer Psychology

Why Do We Want to See Bad Things Happen to Our Favorite Characters?

Here’s my philosophical/psychological question of the week: why do we like to see bad things befall our favorite characters? And not just slightly bad things such as losing a trial, not catching the bad guy, or losing the patient but seriously bad things like kidnap, attempted murder and other life shattering occurrences? Why are those things the hook, what gets us talking and foaming at the mouth in anticipation of their occurrence? What does that say about us as viewers? We get attached to these characters, admire them, want to be like them, see ourselves in them and yet we can’t wait to see them hurt. Seriously hurt.

Sure, conflict is necessary in every story ever told, but conflict comes in all shapes and sizes. Breakups, dating, families, life and work in general all fall into the ‘conflict’ category but the highest show ratings of anything are when major crises befall the protagonists.

Maybe we want to see the aftermath, how they cope, or don’t cope, with whatever happened to them. Maybe we don’t like the character and actually want to see bad things happen to them.

The Greek philosopher Aristotle proposed that tragedy is popular because it allows people to experience and let out their negative emotions, 'cleansing' themselves. Maybe the tragedies allow the audience to vicariously experience relief from some pain by seeing the protagonists’ pain relieved?

Or maybe we’re all just twisted and want to feel better about our own lives by seeing bad things happen to fictional characters.

And then there’s the difference between tragedy/pain befalling the characters as a result of outside forces vs. them bringing it upon themselves. If they bring despair on themselves we’re more likely to judge them, say I told you so, or see it coming from a mile away. When an alcoholic starts drinking again, someone in a committed relationships starts flirting, or the normally moral minded character bends the rules we know something bad is brewing, it’s just a matter of when. But when something hits them out of nowhere, they’re attacked, in an accident, or betrayed, well, that’s a whole other story. We’re shocked, we empathize, we worry, and we can’t wait to see what happens next.