Rule of Empathy: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''You know what makes people different from animals? We're the only species on Earth that observes [[Discovery Channel|Shark Week]]. ''Sharks'' don't even observe Shark Week; but we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and then go like this; ''[snaps it in half; gasps of horror]'' and part of you ''dies'', just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with ''anything''. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark, and [[Take That|we can give Ben Affleck an Academy Award for Screenwriting]]. People can find the good in just about anything except themselves.''|'''Jeff Winger''', ''[[Community]]''.}}

[[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|Believe it or not]], humans have an amazing ability to empathize with other humans and [[Uncanny Valley|reasonably humanoid equivalents]], even fictional ones! A lot of it has to do with [[Cast Calculus|the kind of focus]] a character receives, be it a [[Sympathetic POV]], with [[Pet the Dog]] moments, or any of the dozens of [[Characterization Tropes]].

This in turn extends a kind of [[Popularity Power]] onto the protagonist/focused on character, giving them a better chance of success in their endeavors than would otherwise be expected. So, one ninja [[Conservation of Ninjutsu|can beat 10,000 ninjasother ninja]] because we've been following the one ninja the whole show; and we know [[Faceless Mooks|nothing]] about [[A Million Is a Statistic|any of the 10,000]]. On the other hand, when the villain comes, he's gonna put up an actual fight, because we know who he is, what he wants, and may even have developed sympathies for him as well.

The '''Rule Ofof Empathy''' works hand in hand with [[Plot Armor]]; while Thethe Rule Ofof Empathy gives a greater chance of success [[Plot Armor]] makes surviving long enough to reach that goal easier. Interestingly, it is by no means linked to intelligence. A [[The McCoy|compassionate]] [[Idiot Ball|fool]] is [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality|likelier to survive]] than a [[Death By Pragmatism|pragmatic]] [[Jerkass]]. This is also why the [[Littlest Cancer Patient]] cannot die of [[Death by Newbery Medal|anything but their illness,]] we're simply too attached to them.

Relatedly, it should be noted that the Rule Ofof Empathy is not an all-powerful charm that grants success and survival to sympathetic characters. It may well be used ''against'' the characters/audience with the likes of a [[Mauve Shirt]] being [[Killed Off for Real]], or to hook us into rooting for the [[Boring Failure Hero]]. As noted earlier, making a villain sympathetic is a sure way of making the audience deeply invested in a story. Sure, they're bad, but they're not ''[[Anti-Villain|all]]'' bad.

The Rule Ofof Empathy also informs viewers and characters ([[AuthorWriter Onon Board|and at times authors]]) just how good or bad an action is within the context of the story. When a villain destroys a whole [[Throwaway Country]], we don't care because [[A Million Is a Statistic|we never saw those characters.]] But when they kill ''one'' character the audience or [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|hero empathizes with]], then they've crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon]].

The ruleRule of empathyEmpathy also has a dark side. There is a fate worse than being a "neutral" [[Innocent Bystander]] with no real attachment to the audience; characters who are notably '''un'''sympathetic will (with few [[Karma Houdini|exceptions]]) be in for a world of hurt. Whether it's because they [[Kick the Dog]] or do other heinous deeds that alienate them from ([[Draco in Leather Pants|most]]) viewer's sympathies, these characters will have a comeuppance at the hands of [[Laser-Guided Karma|something]] [[Call It Karma|similar to karma]], ranging from the [[Humiliation Conga]], being [[Hoist by His Own Petard]], suffering a [[Death by Irony]], or falling to a [[Fate Worse Than Death]].

* An IKEA advertising campaign [[A Worldwide Punomenon|lampshaded]] this. One example showed a desk lamp bebeing replaced and left out in the rain on the curbside. Cue sad music. The ad then proceeded to tell viewers they were crazy for having feelings for a lamp.

== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' (a series which, to most fans, thrives on [[Narm Charm]]) tends to get this a lot.

** We're given some particularly good reasons to empathise with [[Dead Little Sister|Maximillion Crawford/Pegasus, who lost the woman he loved]] and has been trying to get her back ever since. Other villiansvillains such as Malik/Marik, who was forced into a role he didn't want to play his whole childhood and developed a huge bitterness towards the Pharaoh, Amelda/Alister, whose home country was destroyed by a war fought with weapons supplied by Kaiba Corp - you know, before Kaiba corp did games - and Bakura, whose {{spoiler|entire village was slaughtered to create the Millennium items}}, also engender a lot of empathy.

** Then there's Yugi who is just... he's like the poster child for Woobification. If you watch the unknown first season in particular, or read the manga, then you see that he starts out as nothing more than a [[The Woobie|punchbag for every bully in Domino High]]. Including bullies whom he ''stands up for'' and who later end up being his best friends.

** If you don't give even the slightest a damn about the pharaoh after what happens to Yugi in the Orichalcos arc, then you have no soul.

* An interesting example is Rosa from ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]''. Throughout the arcs, she tends to have one of the shortest lifespans of any of the characters, only once making it past the second twilight, and she often dies in very heinous and cruel ways. However, she just about never becomes [[The Woobie]] because the audience still holds a grudge against her for how she abuses [[Creepy Child|her daughter, Maria]]. In a weird way, those two facts wind up sort of balancing each other out so that the audience can still hope that she eventually makes it out, but doesn't overly sympathize with her.

* The reason most of Kenji's gang and many minor characters in ''[[Twentieth Century Boys|20th Century Boys]] '' {{spoiler|survived while more than 90% of the world's population was wiped out.}}

== [[Literature]] ==

* In ''[[The Hunger Games]],'' this is present as a part of the universe. When Haymitch is trying to mentor Katniss, he tries very hard to make her ''likable,'' to make her someone the audience will sympathize with. Sympathy will equal sponsors and money for necessities in the arena, and could therefore make the difference in the Games. Peeta, it turns out, is a natural at invoking the [[Rule of Empathy]] at the drop of a hat. Katniss is not.

* ''[[The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants]]'' seriesbooks by [[Fern Michaels]]: The author proves to have difficulty using this trope. The Vigilantes are a group of women who ''should'' have your sympathy, with their [[Dark and Troubled Past|Dark And Troubled Pasts]]s. Unfortunately, they prove to be politically incorrect, abusive to victims, sexist, acting more like [[Straw Feminist|Straw Feminists]]s than real feminists, dishing out a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] than a [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]], and acting more like spoiled little girls who have never really grown up than actual women. They basically get away with all of this because the author wants them to! It's no wonder other characters, including some of the villains, prove to be way more likable in comparison!

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'': Don't hurt River or Kaylee. EVERYONE''Everyone'' watching is their [[Papa Wolf]] or [[Mama Bear]].

** Similarly, although ''[[Buffy the Buffy/AngelVampire seriesSlayer]]'' and ''[[Angel]]'' wasnweren't afraid to kill off sympathetic characters, if Willow had died the fans would have burned the studio down. Fred is a borderline case because the actoractress continued on as Illyria.

** It's notable that [[Joss Whedon]] is well aware of this, having commented that if he wanted the ''Firefly'' audience to hate a character, he just had to show them being mean to Kaylee. If he wanted to the ''Buffy'' [[Tear Jerker|audience to cry]], he just had to show them Willow crying.

* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles|Cameron]]'': Cameron is a cold, emotionless, and [[Robot Girl|literal killing machine]] who at one point leaves a man and his sister who helped her to die because they don't matter to her anymore. That doesn't change the fact that she is a ''deeply'' sympathetic character who rapidly obtained [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] [[The Woobie|Woobie]] status because of both how interesting she was and all the crap she puts up with [[Iron Woobie|without complaint]] for the Connors.

* Please direct your attention to the ''[[Knight Rider]] episode'' (original series) ''episode "Junkyard Dog''" which sees KITT dumped in an acid pit and literally gutted alive (it's the only time we ever see the nigh-indestructible Knight Industries Two Thousand calling for ''help''). The reactions of the team when he's hauled out, and KITT's resulting PTSD, are heartbreaking for fans; especially the reaction of Michael, who spends hours sitting around outside of the lab, like a nervous family member outside of an operating theatre, while the team is trying to repair him. And if the episode itself gets to you then for the love of god, ''don't read the script''.

** KITT tends to do this to people a lot. And given that KITT is essentially a ''sentient car'' that's saying something. All we ''have'' to get attached to is his personality.

* [[Amoral Attorney]] Jeff Winger [[Discussed Trope|delivers a lecture]] on this in the Pilot of ''[[Community]]''. Ironically, it's a subversion of [[Pet the Dog]].

* In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' most of Data's interactions with his crew mates can be attributed to this. He's reasonably convincing as a sentient being and is probably one of the most sympathetic characters in the entire franchise, but he lacks emotions and empathic awareness and several characters have argued that he is effectively a highly complex walking computer which may or may not have a soul. Yet the crew encourages him to create and socialize, many consider him a friend, and treat him as if he were fully capable of feeling. They even encouraged him to form a romantic relationship even though this, technically, should be impossible. Actors from the show have stated that half Data's appeal comes from the empathy we feel towards him: we feel what Data cannot feel, and feel sorry because he can't.

{{quote| '''Riker''': For an android with no feeling he sure managed to evoke them in others. }}

* In ''[[The Sims 3]]'', If a Sim with the Unlucky or Loser trait dies of anything but old age, the [[Don't Fear the Reaper|Grim Reaper]] will revive them on the grounds that he "feels sorry" for them, and [[Rule of Funny|that they provide too much amusement to be killed off]].

* Karst in ''[[Golden Sun]]|Golden Sun: The Lost Age]]'' has a large fan following, and not just because of [[Ms. Fanservice|what she wears]]. Her relatively large amount of screentimescreen time and [[You Killed My Father|easily-relatable]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|motivation]] make her the most sympathetic [[Anti-Villain|antagonist]] in the series, and one of the most well-developed and sympathetic ''characters'' in the series, as well (though, considering it is ''[[Golden Sun]]'', [[Flat Character|that's not saying much]]).

* Discussed in ''[[Sinfest]]'', where [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209163414/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3552 Baby Blue objects to a story with a sympathetic protagonist]; she gives Fuschia a physics textbook to read to the damned instead.

* One of the shorts of ''[[AeonÆon Flux]]'' shorts viciously subverts this, showing a series of characters, each given screen time alone and characterization to make the audience connect with them, and each of whom becomes the subsequent [[Mook]] to be slaughtered by another character that the audience is being told to empathize with.

* A really grotesque version is seen in many ideological movements. A large part of the reason the Nazis got away with so much is that they were able to [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulate]] the world's otherwise laudable sympathy for the country that lost the last war.