Why do we get so emotionally attached to fictional characters?

Question

Whenever I read a book or watch a show with my favorite characters if something bad happens; I can't just shrug it off. I feel really bad afterwards. In Return of the Joker, when Robin was tortured by the Joker; I cried. In the middle of a good book I become really angry at the characters when they make a stupid decison, and or I can't fell really happy when they've accomplished something. What is it about characters and authors, that can touch human emotionals and the soul so deep? Why do we all fell, sometimes, like these fictional characters are part of us?

Answer 1

The key factor is identification. A character with whom you don't feel you have anything in common will not interest you and will not move you emotionally. When the character is one with whom you identify emotionally, you will respond to the situation the character is in - not quite as if you were in the situation yourself, but the emotion identification will be there. In that respect, the fictional character IS a part of you.

Answer 2

The characters maybe fictional, however emotions and feelings the fictional characters undergo, are the same ones we as real human beings feel, or have felt at some point of time in our lives. We don't really relate the characters to ourselves, but actually relate the feelings and emotions involved. Feelings and emotions are something commonly and universally felt by all human beings. No one is exempted from it.

Answer 3

Yeah I'm the same way, but in a different way. Even though the characters are fictional, I feel as if I know them and if something important happens in the book, I feel as if it affects me. When something good happens, like if the character falls in love, I feel butterflies in my tummy or something.
I think it's all down to the way the book's written,and also how sensitive the reader is.
I also get upset when the book ends. I hate it when I have to put a good book down.
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Answer 4

due to the environments