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I find it easier to admire fictional characters than real people for the simple reason that fictional characters can be designed to be admired. Most people do not set out to make their lives a reflection of any particular thing (that is, most people aren't actually trying to be a paragon or morality or ethics or what have you).
Fictional characters, on the other hand, can be designed around such a concept, and while many of them are unrealistic and couldn't be imagined as a real person, most skilled writers are able to make characters seem like they could exist in real life, or at least that their personalities could exist in real life (for example, a shape-shifting wizard who saves the world on numerous occasions couldn't exist as such, but the character's actual personality could almost certainly exist).
Furthermore, with any fictional character, all you see of them is what is explained, shown, or strongly implied in the actual story/context. This means that, if they are not portrayed to have some vice that would actually get in the way of our admiring them (such as a bad drug habit or frequent petty dishonesty), then they do not have these vices at all. Real people are unpleasantly surprising in this regard. You wouldn't believe how many times I come to respect or like a person and then I discover something about them -anything, even something relatively small - that makes me think slightly less of them and that I wish I hadn't known.
Perhaps I feel this way only because I harbor idealistic tendencies and I believe that things other than the presently existing reality can be made to exist. I can't say whether or not these created standards are better to follow than what real life gives us, but it is much easier and far more understandable to want to believe in admirable fictions.
Fictional characters, on the other hand, can be designed around such a concept, and while many of them are unrealistic and couldn't be imagined as a real person, most skilled writers are able to make characters seem like they could exist in real life, or at least that their personalities could exist in real life (for example, a shape-shifting wizard who saves the world on numerous occasions couldn't exist as such, but the character's actual personality could almost certainly exist).
Furthermore, with any fictional character, all you see of them is what is explained, shown, or strongly implied in the actual story/context. This means that, if they are not portrayed to have some vice that would actually get in the way of our admiring them (such as a bad drug habit or frequent petty dishonesty), then they do not have these vices at all. Real people are unpleasantly surprising in this regard. You wouldn't believe how many times I come to respect or like a person and then I discover something about them -anything, even something relatively small - that makes me think slightly less of them and that I wish I hadn't known.
Perhaps I feel this way only because I harbor idealistic tendencies and I believe that things other than the presently existing reality can be made to exist. I can't say whether or not these created standards are better to follow than what real life gives us, but it is much easier and far more understandable to want to believe in admirable fictions.
Hey, look, I actually voluntarily wrote an essay. I don't think I've ever done that before.
Anyway. This is something I've never actually explained to anyone before but that you would probably gather through talking with me. Whenever I talk about someone I admire or want to be like, I cite fictitious examples more than real-life ones. You'd get the impression that it's because I'm over-familiar with fiction, which is true, but it's also because of the reasons explained here.
Anyway. This is something I've never actually explained to anyone before but that you would probably gather through talking with me. Whenever I talk about someone I admire or want to be like, I cite fictitious examples more than real-life ones. You'd get the impression that it's because I'm over-familiar with fiction, which is true, but it's also because of the reasons explained here.
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I also think that we might see ourselves, or a tiny bit, in these fictional characters. In my place, I see a part of me in the kind of ''bad guys''. Maybe because they're more real or seem that way, just because their flaws and mistakes. Also because we see an escape to our current position in our lives (sad or boring) and we can imagine ourselves in a better place being a better person.
Great essay!
Great essay!