Abstract

This study analyses the relation between a viewer and the audiovisual fictional character, presuming that the relation operates on a more integrated basis of his self-reflection. By means of the fictional characters’ stories from our audiovisual culture the viewer gains experience in many different fields. This experiential learning results from the process of his identification with the character, which is a part of a larger process of his own reflection. Deep comparison with the character and his or her situation also performs a crucial part of social and emotional learning. Afterwards, self-assessment is a significant part of identification with the character. It is also a result of one’s own comparison with the identifited character. Our research, founded on the answers of more than 2000 young people interested in audiovisual culture, leads to the conclusion that viewers choose fictional characters who are supposed to have the same or slightly better moral values than themselves. In this way the process appears to be an active choice as the viewer marks out the character for identification, and it is a highly educational situation as the viewer can accept a model fictional character, that hints how to improve himself/herself.