Characters as Artefacts: Aesthetic Qualities and Conventions

Chapter 8 examines general properties of characters as artefacts, as well as overarching character conceptions shaping different forms of media practice. Several artefact qualities and their effects on the audience are discussed, including realism (based on common ideas about reality), typification (based on stereotypes, archetypes, or media types), complexity, consistency, and their opposites. The chapter then turns to broader character conceptions: conventional patterns of artefact qualities that occur in certain narrative genres or modes. In mainstream realism, for example, characters are conceived as individualised types, psychologically transparent, dynamic, active, and driven by external goals. In contrast, the characters of arthouse cinema correspond more to the conception of independent realism, and tend to be more complex, opaque, ambivalent, passive, and aimlessly driven by inner needs. Further character conceptions include postmodernism, Brechtian alienation, or deconstruction. Artefact qualities and character conceptions influence both creative practice and audience perception, shaping standards by which characters are designed and evaluated in different narrative traditions. The chapter concludes with an analysis of Rick Blaine from Casablanca, which illustrates how his character merges elements of mainstream realism and independent realism, thereby partly deviating from Hollywood conventions.