Character - Movie Characters and Interactive Theory

Carl Fredrickson (Left) is the protagonist of the critically and commercially praised film UP! from Pixar. He's a grouchy old man not wanting to be bothered by the changing world around him.

[2] Calling back to Smith's Structure of Sympathy; we can look into why we come to care about a crotchety old man. The elements to examine were Recognition, Alignment  and Allegiance.

Recognition
UP! provides us with a great opportunity to examine character recognition. In the early film we see Carl as a young child but we are not told that it is our protagonist. We connect the dots through character cues.
 Below is young Carl. We associate his glasses as part of his character as well as his proportions. The short arms and stout build also help us connect the character as he grows up. We see Carl go from a small child to an old widower in a short montage sequence. Recognition is being able to tell which character is which on screen.

Alignment
This element asks how often are we with the character throughout the screen duration (time from opening credits to ending credits). In UP! we are with Carl for almost the entire movie. We're given a few short scenes away from him to follow Russell (the short Asian Explorer Scout) but not much else.

Allegiance
Do we value what Carl values? I'd say so. After watching the intro montage about Carl's life: growing up, getting married, working hard, dreaming of children, suffering hardships and coming to dream again. We learn what he wanted and still wants from life. Carl values the lost love of his wife Ellie and the dreams they shared. These are concepts most of us can understand.

These elements come together to get the audience to sympathize with the character Carl. The Structure of Sympathy works well to define why we care about characters in film. However, I believe that it falls short in interactive mediums. While I was writing last weeks article I was thinking about how Agro was not only a character but a partner in game. Dwelling on this I came up with a new element to grade video game characters by: Utility.

The main difference between video games and movies is interactivity. Agro has another opportunity to endear himself to the players by being useful. Agro saved me on many occasions and there are certain Colossi I would have been unable to best without his help. Utility would be defined by whether or not a character contributes to game play and how efficient the character fulfills that intended role.

Something I'm going to ask of you my audience: Examine a favorite game or two of yours using the Structure of Sympathy. Give it a quick thought. How do the characters you like the most fare under these criteria? Remember the elements are Recognition, Allegiance, Alignment and my new element Utility. Post your thoughts in the comments below!

I included this picture cause Kevin was my favorite character. She was just plain funny!

I'm Mad and this is what I've gotten into today.