Fictional Characters Research Articles

Stigmatization of drinking patients with liver cancer: The role of socioeconomic status

Patients with liver cancer may face stigmatization due to cancer, alcohol consumption, or both. This study addresses gaps in the existing literature regarding stigmatization of alcohol-related liver cancer patients, particularly its connection with socioeconomic status (SES). The study explores whether the SES of a fictional character with alcohol addiction and liver cancer influences stigma levels reported by participants. Additionally, it investigates how participants' personal characteristics, such as alcohol consumption and healthcare professional status, impact stigmatization. This study aims to provide new insights regarding the role of stigmatization in liver cancer treatment and management, emphasizing in socioeconomic determinants. The method is based on three scenarios describing a woman character with alcohol abuse and liver cancer. The scenarios depicted a woman character with either low, medium or high SES. Each participant (N = 991) was randomly assigned to one of the three scenarios. After reading it, each participant answered questionnaires assessing negative attitudes towards the character. Four scales were used: “Negative attributions about people with health problems”, “Causality of cancer”, “Controllability of drinking” and “Reluctance to helping behavior”. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and t-tests. The scenario describing a character with a low SES significantly received more “Negative attributions about people with health problems” than the character with medium or high SES. Participants having higher alcohol consumption themselves showed lower stigma scores for three out of four scales than participants with lower consumption. In addition, participants identified as health professionals had lower stigma scores regarding the scales “Negative attributions about people with health problems” and “Controllability of drinking”, and higher scores for the subscale “Reluctance to helping behavior”, compared with non-professionals. A character with low SES received more negative attributions than the one with higher SES. Participants’ own alcohol consumption and professional status (being health professional or not), influenced their stigmatizing attitudes.

Delusional ideation is associated with social imagery: Felt presence, social anxiety, empathy and loneliness

Recent research suggests that delusional ideation (DI) may have social component to its phenomenology and underlying mechanisms. This study investigated associations between delusional ideation and factors of social imagery in healthy adults using the COVID-19 pandemic as a context of increased social threat perception. 1,854 participants completed an online survey. DI was assessed using the Peters Delusional Ideation (PDI) scale, and social imagery was investigated using the Other Experiences Questionnaire (OEQ, felt presence), the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI, empathy), and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. All aspects of social imagery were positively associated with DI. The strongest predictor of PDI score was felt presence, followed by loneliness, LSAS social fear dimension, IRI (empathic concern and empathy for fictional characters) scales. We propose that delusions and social imagery may share common mechanisms and increased propensity for imagining others may contribute to development of delusions.

NarrativePlay: An Automated System for Crafting Visual Worlds in Novels for Role-Playing

In this demo, we present NarrativePlay -- an innovative system enabling users to role-play a fictional character and interact with dynamically generated narrative environments. Unlike existing predefined sandbox approaches, NarrativePlay centres around the main storyline events extracted from the narrative, allowing users to experience the story from the perspective of a character they chose. To design versatile AI agents for diverse scenarios, we employ a framework built on a Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract detailed character traits from text. We also incorporate automatically generated visual displays of narrative settings, character portraits, and character speech, greatly enhancing the overall user experience.

Analysis of the Place of Ethical Behavior in the Fictional Works of Yaqub Yad Ali ased on the Doctrine of Jacques Marie Émile Lacan

Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was one of the thinkers who reread the category of ethics based on psychoanalytical doctrine. He considered adherence to the sign of desire as a criterion for ethical behavior. In this research, we have tried to evaluate the actions of the characters in Yaqoub Yad Ali's fictional works according to the psychoanalytic teachings of Lacan. Based on this, it is necessary to explain the relationship between the place of desire as a psychological matter and ethic. One of the goals of the authors in this research is to explain the distinction between the desire of the subject and The Other as an irreconcilable divergence. In this regard, the question has been answered that based on Lakan's psychoanalytical teachings, which one of Yad Ali's fictional characters had an ethical action, and which one had an immoral action? This research has been done by qualitative analysis based on the teachings of Lacan and the collection of fiction works of Yaqub Yad Ali. The findings of the research show that the establishment of the desire suppression mechanism causes the subject to encounter the phenomenon of loss or deprivation. The subject identifies the signifier of The Other’s desire as the signifier of his desire and fulfills it. According to Lakan, the ethical behavior becomes possible when the subject always remains faithful to the signifier of his true desire. The ethical subject in Lakan's view is the one who, in the face of the law, always transgresses it through the sign of joesance

Queen Shima as Nusantara feminist pioneer: Feminist literary study on the novels Putri Kalingga and Avatar Keadilan

Up to the present time, the public is more familiar with the figures of Kartini, Dewi Sartika, and Cut Nyak Dien as icons of Indonesian women emancipation fighters. In reality, for hundreds of years before Kartini was born, in the 7th century, the Kingdom of Kalingga has been led by a woman, Queen Shima. Not much of the historical data has recorded her name and roles. In the midst of this condition, there were published two novels which enumerate the way of life of Queen Shima, entitled Putri Kalingga (Wibidharma, 2022) and Avatar Keadilan: Pesona Kebajikan Maharatu Shima dari Negeri Kalingga (Nararosa, 2010). The present study is aimed at understanding the existence of Queen Shima as a pioneer of Nusantara feminism by using the perspectives of feminist literary approach. The study was qualitative feminist research. The data sources of the study were the two novels Putri Kalingga and Avatar Keadilan: Pesona Kebajikan Maharatu Shima dari Negeri Kalingga. Data were the narratives that tell about the characteristics and way of life of Queen Shima as King of Kalingga Kingdom which contain information about her position and roles in Nusantara women history. Findings of the study show that Queen Shima, whose life story is told in the two novels Putri Kalingga and Avatar Keadilan is not only a fictitious character, but also a historical figure from the 7th century, who is hauled up as King of Kalingga Kingdom not because of inheriting the crown from her parents, but because of the intelligence, wisdom, and leardership capacities she has. In the perspectives of feminist literary criticism, Queen Shima represents Nusantara feminisim that has been practiced in the era of the Kalingga kingdom.

Farewell on screen: Uncertainty in parasocial relationships and breakups with fictional media characters✰,✰✰

Viewers form enduring bonds, or parasocial relationships (PSRs), with media characters. They suffer breakup distress when such relationships are dissolved and show emotional reactions similar to those from the dissolution of social relationships. Alongside definite and temporary breakups, this paper introduces the term uncertain breakup, and the three breakup types are analyzed and compared. In a two-survey study with viewers of five shows (Emily in Paris, Bridgerton, Peaky Blinders, Shadow and Bone, Never Have I Ever), the three parasocial breakup types were analyzed in Study I with independent samples and with dependent samples in Study II, which also considered the behavioral effects of parasocial breakups. The results show that PSRs positively predict viewers’ temporary, uncertain, and definite breakup distress and subsequent PSRs after a breakup. The three types of breakup distress differ regarding, for example, their moderation of viewers’ level of loneliness or their behavioral effects. The results’ implications are discussed for future research on PSRs and their dissolution.

The Royal Treatment

The Royal Treatment

Linguistic Personality of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Character Nebula: Narrative and LIWC Analyses

Blockbuster films intended for an international audience often depict universally recognisable psychological motivations and limitations, presenting characters whose verbal expressions create distinct psychological impressions. This paper focused on the relationship between language use, including narratives and psychological categories of words, and the psychological traits of cinematic personalities. The study aimed to investigate how a character's language usage exposed their personality, psychological attributes, and transformations throughout their story arc and archetype. To achieve this, in the research a connection between Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, Jung's concept of archetypes, and Schmidt's typology of master characters in fiction was drawn, which expanded the understanding of the heroine Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy verbal behavior. The research further defined the character's psychological image and arc by analysing their speech patterns. It identified the character's archetypes, namely the Backstabber and the Father's Daughter, and explored the progression between these archetypes. Additionally, the article employed the narrative analysis to construct the character's story. The narrative analysis was concluded with the implementation of the LIWC-22 psycholinguistic analysis in order to validate the findings derived from the psycholinguistics and cinematic studies. This method allowed for a comprehensive examination of the language used by cinematic characters, providing insights into their psychological traits and development. Ultimately, this research has contributed to the comprehension of how people's psychological characteristics are depicted and communicated through language in mass cinematography.

Val McDermid's Lindsay Gordon: A Revolutionary Portrait in Tartan- Noir

Considered as one of the most influential crime fiction writers of our time, Val McDermid combines her works with Scotland’s city and town culture. Having the opportunity to closely observe the problems faced by the working class in the town of Fife where she spent her childhood, McDermid enriches her fiction with these narratives. These experiences led her to be the voice of the forgotten, oppressed, and marginalised segments of society in her later writing life. Also challenging the male-dominated structure of traditional crime fiction, McDermid brings a new atmosphere to crime fiction by creating fictional characters such as Lindsay Gordon. Classic crime fiction, which spent its golden age under the hegemony of British writers in the 1930s, presents the reader with stories in which typical male detectives are the protagonists. By the 1970s, Scottish crime fiction, or Tartan-Noir writers, produced essential works in this field. McDermid, who took the title of the Queen of crime fiction, puts women at the centre of her narrative, and in this way, she differs from male Tartan-Noir writers. In this study, McDermid, who deconstructed the male-dominated structure in traditional detective fiction and placed strong female detectives such as Lindsay Gordon into fiction, will be examined. Additionally, McDermid’s criticisms of the Margaret Thatcher period will be explained to readers with examples from her novels.

Семантические особенности квазиантропонимов в текстах англоязычных фэнтезийных видеоигр

The article presents an analysis of the semantic parameters of quasi-anthroponyms utilized in English-language accompanying texts for fantasy computer games. As a first step, we developed an approach to clarify the term quasi-anthroponym, which had been subject to various interpretations in scholarly publications. Quasi-anthroponyms are defined here as names of animated fictional objects that function as characters within the virtual worlds of video games. Taking into account the correlation between real and fictional elements, fantasy characters are categorized based on the degree of their fictionality. Quasi-anthroponyms naming characters of highly fictional game universes are classified into three major groups according to their semantic potential. The primary semantic parameters underlying this classification include indications of the character’s appearance, specific characteristics and combinations of certain features, such as the character’s functions in the game universe. The significance of this research lies in expanding the field of anthroponymic studies by incorporating relevant language material from virtual game discourse. Moreover, the practical implications are demonstrated through the potential use of these findings in lectures and seminars on contemporary English lexicology and stylistics, as well as in the analysis of texts of fantasy video games in language teaching. This aligns with the growing trend towards gamification of modern educational practices. Ultimately, this study establishes substantive criteria underlying the creation of English-language names for fictitious characters in the realm of fantasy video games. In addition, inventorization, systematization and classification of these linguistic units were conducted.

Monarchy and Politics of Detention in Taher Ben Jalloun's “This Blinding Absence of Light”

Tahar Ben Jelloun's novels are distinguished by their integration of problematic social phenomena into a purely literary form. While this isn't unique to Ben Jelloun's writing style, the author's way of crafting thought-provoking and often revolutionary experimental stories from the material of traditional Moroccan life is, at least in a way extraordinary: his characters experience social difficulties and embarrassments in their lives through the metaphor of a fictional existence of their self-perception. Thus, for example, their search for identity in their social context manifests in their search for self-perception as fictional characters and power struggles in relationships. Their relationship takes the form of a battle for control of the story. Political prisoners associate writing with their quest for freedom. This article therefore focuses on the torture, body and voice representations of Taher Ben Jelloun's This Blinding Absence of Light (2002). Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory will be used to approach the psychological disintegration of characters in the text following such a Dark Decade experience and will borrow eclectic concepts from interdisciplinary studies; Erving's concept of Goffman's "holistic institution", Elaine Scarry's comprehensive and detailed theoretical definition and analysis of torture, and Judith Herman's study of trauma.

Language of the Future as an Object of Satire in D. Eggers’s Dystopic Dilogy

Personal worldview can be subjected to linguistic modeling even if the person in question is a fictional character. This research featured the vocabulary invented by the contemporary American writer Dave Eggers for his dystopic dilogy, as well as the role of this fictional language in creating satirical mode. The study involved such methods of cognitive linguistics as component, transformational, and stylistic analyses, analytical description, and semantic fields. The article opens with a review of domestic and foreign publications on the connection between language, social processes, and thinking. The Circle (2013) and The Every (2021) were analyzed for satirical and stylistic devices. The dilogy turned out to be a new type of satire, which combines the postmodern irony and deconstruction with the metamodern openness and optimism. The vocabulary of the future as seen by the author was analyzed for its functions in creating the worldview. Its key features include: neologisms and occasionalisms coined in line with actual word-formation models; contrasting high and low-style vocabulary; euphemisms and modified set phrases. D. Eggers also satirized some real linguistic trends, which, in his opinion, deform the language and affect people’s mind and behavior.

The Embeddedness of Mind, Body and Spirit in Nature: An Exploration of Ecopsychological Tenets in The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien’s trilogy - The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954), and The Return of the King (1955) - is among the most analysed and studied classics in the world. It contains various themes which can be explored from several perspectives and in different contexts. The way nature is represented with the attribution of strong agency and the significance of strong communication between the human psyche and nature are worth mentioning since the trilogy provides an opportunity to explore the ecopsychological cruciality of human-nature togetherness for tranquillity in the human soul and sanity in the human mind. Moreover, with fictional places like Mordor and Isengard, the trilogy brings the degradation and destruction of nature to attention. Elvish geographies and the Shire enable us to appreciate and celebrate reciprocal and affirmative relations with nature. The psychology, unity, and agency of Nature with spiritual and fantastic characters such as Ents are foregrounded in the novel. By focusing on the fictional characters, this article aims to explore the ecopsychological facets of the places in the trilogy and how the human psyche is affected depending on natural or greenless places.

Development as Utopia? Road to a Better Future Between Fiction and Lived Utopian Practice

ABSTRACT Development as presented in the MDGs/SDGs is a well-planned step-by-step enterprise. If we dig deeper into the development debate, it is clear that the dilemma of eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development is still unsolved, despite all efforts. Thus, development seems to be fictional in the sense of an unreachable utopia. Against this background, it is helpful to connect the development debate with utopian studies. We learn from utopian studies that there are not only fictional utopias as a vision of a just world, which may never be realised. There are also lived utopias that unpack alternative approaches to overcoming inequality or meeting ecological challenges, and which can be realised at least within a limited space. This applies to concepts from in the Global South, such as swaraj, buen vivir and ubuntu, or ecovillages and solidarity economies that present themselves as models for alternative development. As lived utopias, they follow future practice in a defined area in which the desired future becomes part of the present. These concepts are new models in the critical development debate. They are particularly successful in communities that share a common vision and common values. At the same time, there are doubts whether these models may be realised at the national or global. With regard to the fictional character of development goals, it is obvious that we still lack a feasible global strategy with a vision for the future that is attractive enough to gain global support and that can really be accomplished.

Resilience in the Face of Crisis: A Literary Exploration of Pandemic Novels (Remnants of Resiliency and Survival: A Thematic Analysis on Pandemic Novels)

In the midst of the global COVID-19 crisis, this qualitative study undertakes an examination of pandemic novels, taking out insights from a selection of ten prominent novels as its primary dataset. Employing both narrative and thematic analyses, the research delves into the portrayal of resilience and trauma processing within these literary works, with the ultimate goal of formulating a practical, yet handy, literary module designed to enhance student engagement. The analytical framework encompasses Resilience theory, Postmodernism, and Marxism, providing a comprehensive lens through which to explore how fictional survivors navigate and depict resilience. Symbolism takes center stage, notably through the metaphorical use of an infected rat, shedding light on the delicate balance between nature and civilization. The discussion on causative factors injects a sense of urgency and unpredictability, mirroring the intricate dynamics of real-world health crises and encouraging nuanced comprehension. The study goes beyond individual adaptability to scrutinize societal responses, contributing significantly to academic discussions. As the study concludes, the derived insights aim to facilitate readers in coping with the trauma induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, offering valuable perspectives on how fictional characters navigate and endure the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Trilling Redux

Abstract This short essay considers the cultural and historical context of Lionel Trilling’s unfinished, unpublished novel in response to Michael Kalisch’s essay for this issue. Written in the 1940s, The Journey Abandoned (editor’s title) reprises Trilling’s preoccupations in The Liberal Imagination with anti-Stalinist liberalism and Cold War modernism and emphasizes the importance of American literature to Trilling at the beginning of his career as both a critic and a novelist. Trilling championed those writers—and created fictional characters—whose thinking affirmed and resisted the status quo. The dynamism of dialectical thinking that enlivened his essays also echoed the pluralist model of consensus liberalism, in which multitude conflicts were in continual negotiation. In concluding, the essay suggests that the unfinished novel, perpetually open to interpretation, is an apt tribute to Trilling’s signature mode of thought.Ambitious and having to make his way professionally (he had just become an assistant professor in 1939), Trilling saw American literature as a vehicle of upward mobility for himself, just as it was for Vincent.

Less Is More: How the Language of Fiction Fosters Emotion Recognition

Stories, in pictorial format, orally narrated, and later on as narrative texts, have played a key role in human evolution and to this day continue to surreptitiously teach us things and skills. In recent decades, psychologists and cognitive scientists have begun documenting the role of stories, and particularly fiction, in refining our sociocognitive skills. In this essay, I focus specifically on how stories, particularly written fiction, hone our emotion recognition skills. I present a brief overview of existing theorizing and research findings, and propose the less-is-more hypothesis, according to which emotion recognition skills are sharpened by stories that do not tell us, but rather show us the emotional life of fictional characters.

The Historical Values in The Novel 'Muhammad Lelaki Penggenggam Hujan’

This study aims to examine historical values in Tasaro GK's novel Muhammad Man Holding Rain by using historical research and a qualitative approach. Data collection using analysis and interview techniques. The data analysis technique was carried out by reading the main research source, namely the historical novel Muhammad The Man Holding the Rain, then describing and drawing conclusions. The interview technique was carried out with the writer of the novel Muhammad Man Holding the Rain, namely Tasaro GK. The data in this study are in the form of excerpts from novels that contain historical elements. The results of this study indicate the existence of historical data in his authorship. The relevance of the use of literature and history can be found in several parts of this novel, by using fictional characters so that the storyline becomes dynamic. The implication of using the novel Muhammad's Man Holding the Rain in understanding sirah nabawiyah requires a deep interpretation of every event in the novel.

Implementasi Metode Role-Play dalam Meningkatkan Kemampuan Berbicara Bahasa Arab di Sekolah Islam

This research discusses the implementation of the role-play method in enhancing Arabic language speaking skills in Islamic schools in Indonesia. The role-play method is a creative activity in which participants assume fictional character roles and engage in a simulated environment or scenario. However, there are several challenges and constraints in its implementation, such as time limitations, students' limited understanding of the Arabic language, and adjustments to the learning schedule. Therefore, efforts to improve the effectiveness of this method require changes in the allocation of learning time and an approach that focuses on understanding the students' needs. The role-play method offers several advantages in an educational context, such as providing practical experiences to participants, enhancing speaking and communication skills, developing social skills, understanding different perspectives, and increasing motivation and engagement. However, this method also has some disadvantages, including participant fear and nervousness, the need for additional time in the learning process, resource limitations, and subjective assessment. Educators and students need to carefully consider the pros and cons of this method before implementing it.

Across languages, across media. A comparative analysis of linguistic variation in literary translation and transmedial adaptation of a Chinese-American fictional character

This study explores translation and transmediality by examining the adaptation of Charlie Chan’s literary and cinematic portrayal in English and Italian. As a Chinese American fictional detective created by E.D. Biggers in the 1920s (often accused of stereotyping the minority he represents), Charlie Chan navigates various cultural contexts, providing a rich ground for intermedial comparisons. By employing an intercultural and intermedial approach to Translation Studies, this research sets out to understand how linguistic variation is represented across languages and media. The analysis intertwines multiple levels of translation, as it investigates the passages from English source to Italian target version of both novel and film (interlingual translation), as well as the novel-film adaptation as a form of rewriting (and therefore of medium translation). In particular, the focus will be on how Chan’s language variation, with specific attention to those traits that are supposed to delineate his fictional ‘Chineseness’, may have changed across these multiple translational passages. The findings of this research reveal that the different versions preserve and adapt to various extents Chan’s portrayal, and that both different languages and media contribute to a nuanced understanding of the complexities in the (stereotyped) representation of the image of minority characters.