Do you feel more of a connection to literary characters when you read a book versus connection to characters when you watch a show?

Question

I just finished a book and it got me thinking about this. What do you think?

Kayla45 · Accepted Answer

Personally, I usually feel a stronger connection to characters when I read a book. Reading requires me to imagine their appearance, voices, mannerisms, and emotions, so it feels like my mind is helping bring them to life. Because I spend so much time inside their thoughts and perspectives, I often end up understanding them on a much deeper emotional level than I do when simply watching them on a screen.

That is not to say shows cannot create amazing characters. A talented cast, great writing, and memorable performances can absolutely make me care about someone. Sometimes an actor adds little expressions, body language, or vocal delivery that make a character unforgettable. Visual storytelling also makes it easier to connect with action scenes and emotional moments because you can see everything unfold in real time.

Overall, though, I think books have a slight advantage when it comes to building emotional attachment. Spending hours reading a character’s inner thoughts, motivations, and personal struggles makes them feel almost like someone I have gotten to know personally. By the time I finish a great novel, saying goodbye to those characters can honestly feel a little bittersweet..

msc545 · Accepted Answer

I don't think the medium is nearly as important as the quality of the care and quantity of character development by the writers or authors. For instance, I recently posted that the shows Landman and Marshalls are very different, even though they were written by the same author, Taylor Sheridan. Landman has received awards and is now in its third season. It's a great success, mostly because of the great character development that Taylor Sheridan accomplished in that show. Marshalls, on the other hand, has been roundly criticized for poor acting and poor character development. I feel no connection whatsoever to the characters in Marshalls, but I feel close to the characters in Landman because they seem like human beings. The ones in Marshalls do not seem human. They just seem like caricatures of humans that are reading off a script. So the combination of character development and good acting has a lot to do with how close I feel or connected I feel to characters.