Survey of Depression Over the Death of a Fictional Character.
Greetings, I'm doing a survey about whether or not its common for one to experience some depression over the death of a fictional character, say from a movie, tv series, book, or video game (perhaps over the death of Yoshimo?); also whether its more common for a male or a female to become depressed over the death of a character of fiction. So, if you would be willing to partake in the survey just leave a comment here indicating: whether you've ever become depressed over the death of a fictional character, to what extent (in general terms) your depression was and whether your male or female. This survey is for a college statistics class I'm taking and I'd appreciate your help in reducing the boredom of the class room.
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I'm a male in my late 20's.
Movies hit much harder normally and I quite often try to hide that I am crying. Not sure if this counts as being depressed though, but I always cry when Maximus dies in Gladiator. It's so sad and so beautiful at the same time. Same with Hero when one of the character dies and his spouse commits suicide since she cannot imagine being separated from him.
Male, mid thirties.
But damn, when he dropped the bow tie.... *sniffles*
Although the circumstances surrounding publication were probably a strong component.
I actually feel more depressed when a serious show or story or movie will leave everyone at the end in perfect health without anything bad happening to them and everything turns out great and everyone survived because isn't life just always perfect, and if your life isn't perfect then I guess you must be doing something wrong, and your life is in shambles, isn't it great??!!
My life isn't perfect.
So, in a way, I find death in fiction comforting because death is a part of real life and I have a hard time coping with death in real life. It reminds me I am not alone in that that there are other people out there who have also been through pain in their lives at the death of a loved one. I feel it could be the author's way of getting something that is painful to them off of their chest in a way that can bring enjoyment to others.
Oh yes, I'm a male and in my mid-forties now.
I'm moving it to the International Off-Topic subforum.
I also cried for about two days straight after watching Of Mice and Men.
Never got depressed over death of fictional characters. At most, I was very moved or sad.
Depression is a mental disorder. Therefore I think your usage of the word here is wrong.
I don't think it's relevant to mention your gender here, though naturally you can. Men cry. It's not unusual to have feelings for characters we love.
I've never gotten depressed, but I've felt bad when characters in games accidentally die. I wasn't happy seeing Toriel die in Undertale.
Actually, I was depressed for several weeks when Jiraiya, a teacher of Naruto in the manga/anime Naruto died. This is what I wrote one day on the wall of @O_Bruce who had a Jiraiya avatar then:
"The guy in your avatar is my favourite character from this manga. I see the arc about him the most touching. I think that arc is the best, even better than what is happening now. I still cry when I think he's not with Naruto... That opening just tears me apart, especially the ice-cream... Wherever someone thinks of you, that's where home is."
A reason: this character was so, so good written, and he was so pleasant and important for the main character, I literally felt his pain when that happened.
The same thing happened to me when Portgas D. Ace, a brother of Luffy from One Piece manga/anime, died. Maybe @Shandyr can understand it - the whole thing looked stunningly surprising, horrifying and didn't leave me anything but a deep, deep sorrow.
So, yes, fictional characters can make me (a guy) feel depressed. The main thing is their authors being such great masters that I begin to feel character's emotions and begin to look at them like they're real people.
[/spoiler]
God, that one hit me hard as a kid... [/spoiler]
Edit: I thought of another one!
[spoiler=Your Lie In April spoilers]Kaori too.
Those are the most recent ones that come to mind, seeing as I just finished a replaythrough of Dragoon not long ago and watched Your Life In April. I usually feel pretty sad to see a character I like die, but the most memorable deaths are the ones when I actually cry.
I'm female and 23 years old.
Edit 2: I thought of another other one!
[spoiler=Grave of the Fireflies spoilers] I hate this movie.
I didn't cry. I didn't feel sad. I just felt dead. Completely and utterly dead for two whole days, pondering my worth as a human being, whether or not I'm a good big sister, and generally just hating the world.
And once again, you know it's coming. Your two main characters are introduced as ghosts right at the start.
But it DOESN'T EVEN MATTER. *bawl*
If there's any fictional character death that made me clinically depressed for a while, I think this would be it.
You don't get out of this movie without a scar on your soul.[/spoiler]
Now I would be greatly sadden if I killed off any of my main characters in my stories. Don't think I could ever pull the trigger on them.
For the purpose of this survey, I'm male.
As for me
Male, age 22
Tides of War
[Spoiler] I was reading it at 2am when Garrosh dropped the mana-bomb on Theramore. My favorite character, Kinndy Sparkshine of whom was a tiny, pink haired gnome wizard girl, was caught in it. Jaina, the main character of the novel, touches her corpse and it breaks into dust. I cried for two hours. Kinndy was super similar to my character, Piro, and it felt like Piro had died. [/spoiler]
Unlimited Blade Works
[Spoiler] Cried super hard when Iliyasviel got her eyes cut out, stabbed, and she was talking to her dead summon, Hercules. She's super evil but is like a tiny mage girl that was forced to be evil. [/spoiler]
I've cried at almost every character death in the Gundam series.
There are probably a million other situations as well but there are too many to list.
I never felt actual depression from these but I've had to lie down for a little and chill and cope with their demise.