How Do You Consume a Story?

[joannekwan]

Do you read a book by putting yourself in the main character's perspective regardless of the POV the book is written in? Like you will always enter their mind and see things from the protagonist's perspective even if the story is in third person, totally immersing yourself?

I'm just curious because my husband reads and watches movies in this way and I was wondering how many others out there are like him. It has an interesting side effect, he gets second-hand embarrassment when the MC is in vulnerable situations.

This is in contrast to myself. I have a more voyeuristic approach. As I read/watch I play more of an observer, watching the story play out, and in the case of a first person narrative, I'm listening to the protagonist tell me what's happening. In essence I'm more removed from the story.

[Zaboem]

I tend to gravitate towards big cast stories which there is no one specific main character. To answer the question though, I do identify with the main character of the scene to the extent that I try to figure out how I would do things differently.

[JeanGuillet]

I suppose it depends on how the story is written. Sometime a story can pull me into identifying with the mc, but usually not. It takes a really good one to get me sucked in. Then again, I don't lose interest when an mc behaves in a way that is antithetical to my personality. I think a lot of fiction loses it's spiciness when the author tries to appeal to the least common denominator reader. Then again, a lot of pieces that do this are very popular so what do I know? coughTwilightcough

[unknown_user]

I'm sometimes putting myself to the perspective of character(s) who seems to have personality similar to my own (at least in key aspects), or who cause my strong compassion for any other reason. If there are no ones like that (which is often the case), or characters just aren't developed in detail, I'm looking on events as an observer.

[unknown_user]

It is funny that this aspect sometimes put me into antagonist's perspective, rather protagonist's. For example, when I've read "The Sea-Wolf" of Jack London, I've paid much more compassion to the Sea Wolf rather than to main heroes (who are actually almost colorless comparing to him). ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Spoiler

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Too bad the ending of this book was perceived as tragic ( rather than happy, how it was probably supposed to be ) by me for that reason... (҂◡_◡) ᕤ

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[yozhikisblue]

As I read/watch I play more of an observer, watching the story play out, and in the case of a first person narrative, I'm listening to the protagonist tell me what's happening.

I think I consume stories in much the same way you do. I will often think about how I might have done things differently or get frustrated with a protagonist who seems to be making all the wrong decisions- I'll even get second hand embarrassment- but these are all things I experience when talking to friends about poor choices they've made.

Maybe the best way to describe it is that I position myself as a friend in relation to the protagonist (which, now I think about it, also explains why I find it so difficult to enjoy reading stories about protagonists I can't empathize with).

For example, conceptually speaking, I understand that the show "Breaking Bad" is well made. I watched the whole thing with my partner, who really enjoyed it. But personally, I often found myself struggling to remain engaged. All of the characters I was actually empathizing with either got killed or had comparably little screentime- whereas several episodes in, I could not even remotely empathize with Walter White. So at a certain point it no longer mattered to me that the series was well shot, that it touched on interesting themes or that the dialogue was cleverly written. It was like listening to that one friend (everyone's probably known someone like this) who repeatedly makes terrible decisions, refuses to listen to any advice, and then only ever speaks to you to complain about them with something akin to pride- as if they derive a strange masochistic joy from it. Eventually, that friendship will start to feel toxic and one-sided. I suppose in a manner of speaking, I felt the same way about that show.

[SleepingPoppy]

I think I can best describe it as inbetween your two examples. I empathize strongly and can be very invested in the lead character in the story, even get second hand embarrassment, but I don't think I typically experience it like I am the main character. I rather prefer the main character feel like their own person, but a person who I can care about and connect with, preferably.

Though maybe at moments I might feel like I'm directly experiencing something? It'd be more like in flashes, though, if that makes sense.

[darkone4587]

I kind of agree with you on this on how I consume any media, I kind of picture myself as The Watcher in that way.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I'm not even sure I understand what it means to "put yourself in the main character's perspective". Like, you can get secondhand embarrassment without feeling like you ARE someone else...

Does it just mean to ride the main character's emotional waves throughout the story? Like, you're angry for them when they're angry, and you're sad for them when they're sad? Because, in my case, whether or not I do that depends on the character and even on the point in the story. Sometimes my mind aligns with the character's. Sometimes it doesn't.

To answer the prompt directly, though, I would say I'm an observer. I "animate" every story I read, so I kinda have to be. ^^ The fun part is discovering the mental character design. Some stories look Pixar-ish in my head, some look anime-ish. When I read Of Mice and Men, everyone came out cartoonish; it was great!

[daeofthepast]

Lmao yeah I'm the same as your husband in that I put myself in the protagonist's shoes and tend to easily get second hand embarrassment from vulnerable situations.

I've noticed that it tends to work against me when trying to read romance stories. If I have zero interest in the love interest (for example, if the love interest gives off a lot of red flags about being abusive/possessive), then I will intimately feel threatened and back out of the story. Won't even give it a second chance.

Probably have missed out on a lot of interesting stories, but I just. Can't.

On the other hand, it also feels great when the protagonist gets to do something amazing like win a sword fight or they deliver a devastating line to an antagonist. X3

[JeanGuillet]

"Breaking Bad" is well made. I watched the whole thing with my partner, who really enjoyed it. But personally, I often found myself struggling to remain engaged. All of the characters I was actually empathizing with either got killed or had comparably little screentime- whereas several episodes in, I could not even remotely empathize with Walter White.

not sure WW was supposed to be exactly an empathetic character...difficult to empathize with his life choices indeed. Your'e right though that whole show is like watching a train wreck in slow motion s u p e r s l o w m o t i o n zzzzz when you know the main character will always make the wrong decision, sometimes you just give up on them. I think that's an important point as a writer when you're creating a character who has major problems, you have to give the audience some hope for them or it's just too depressing to be interesting. just like if they were that friend that you could never make listen to good advice. very good point.

[crayon_witch]

I think it depends on the medium for me. Like, video games— I will absolutely put myself in the main character’s role and experience the story from their eyes, even if the character isn’t supposed to be a blank audience substitute. The interactive element makes that fun for me.

Movies and comics, the more passive visual storytelling mediums, I find myself watching as if my eyes were the camera; a distant observer, seeing the characters as their own people living their lives. In the past few years, I’ve noticed I’ve become even more disconnected because as a story teller, I watch things with a critical eye. Rarely do I get sucked into a movie and completely dive in without some sort of critical thought process grounding me.

I think it comes down to sympathy vs empathy! Which is very interesting to think about.

[Kura]

Observer.

Though I do have a habit for books (mostly that I NEED to read though because of classes or a friend of mine REALLY wanted me to read this 'great book' so they can talk to me about it) when the main characters were boring or just fuking written bad, replacing them with anime, sonic or other TV or game characters so that I can derive some kind of amusement out of the trash I'm reading.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Mostly observer. I like to put myself like David Attenborough observing and describing two animals mating

I can't put myself into main characters' role or perspective. I'm not that sympathetic

Also the title of this thread... "How do you consume a story?" Well... How...? Devour it (for non English speaker, is a bit weird)

[ConradComics]

I am definitely the more removed, voyeuristic approach.

On a semi-related side not, this also appears to influence how I play video games. Where some are really invested, immersed through the characters in a video game, I stay detached and ponder more if this particular character would, as written, do a specific act. So, where someone might have remorse if 'they' have to kill an elderly couple to get their food in a game like This War of Mine, I'm more of the detached, Would this lawyer kill this elderly couple for food? Hmm, y-e-s.

[Kura]

Since video games are being mentioned a lot, oddly enough, though I'm observer when reading books and comics I'm voyager when playing video games.

The character could be as far removed from me as possible and I'll still be referring to them as "me" Sonic = Me, Mario = Me, Link = Me, Nathan Drake = Me, Bayonetta = Me.

Unless I do something stupid in the game then it's the character's fault... obviously. Like say I stupidly jump into an obvious hole that I know is there and should have logically avoided. "Wow Mario, why do you kill me like that? You are the worst."

[joannekwan]

Funny people are mentioning empathy v. sympathy because as a whole I (as a voyeur) am much more emphatic/sympathetic towards others than my husband (the one who 'wears others' shoes') is. xD
Like he's less likely to help out a person who's dropped a belonging on the street than I am.

[GesuGesu]

I prefer reading in third person! I don't feel comfortable putting myself in a character's shoes because sometimes a character does an action that I wouldn't necessarily do myself or agree with, and that breaks my immersion.

Other ways I like to consume stories (especially novels!) is binge-reading. I carefully select novels based on word count / chapter count (usually at least 50+ chapters) so I can go on a marathon for a couple of days and to give me something to do and look forward to whenever I have a bit of down time. I haven't had much time to read novels at all recently though ^^;; I've been reading mostly translated webnovels from China that have over 1000 chapters!!

For comics/manga/webtoon, short bursts are what I prefer.