Cat People and Charactor Identificaiton

Our emotional responses to fictional protagonists are thought to be genuine and are directed at objects whose ontological status is that of thought contents. Identification is common in fictions. Character identification includes the concepts that we recognize the circumstances of the protagonist to be significantly like those we gave or find ourselves in and that we sympathize with the protagonist. One possibility is to say that what is involved in character identification is the exact duplication on the part of the audience of the protagonist’s mental and emotional state. According to Carroll if the emotional states are identical between the audience member and the horror film character it seems strange because the audience member knows more details to the situation than the character. In the movie Cat People horror is communicated through the characters. The audience doesn’t actually see the monster in true form but it is the thought that makes Irena in particular terrifying. In most the scenes the audience knows more about the situations that are happening then the character. In the scene where Alice is walking alone at night the audience is aware that Irena is walking behind her. According to Carroll we cannot feel the same emotional response because we are aware of more then the character. We are aware that Irena is present so we alone cannot feel the pure fear of Alice. Also, when Alice is preparing to swim, we as the audience are aware of Irena’s presence but Alice is not. Here we cannot identify with the characters emotions because we know she is present and cannot feel the true fear of the situation. Also, according to Carroll we understand that we are watching a horror film and that the fear of the monster is the by product of the contextual thought of the being itself. We as an audience fear the monster because we find the actual thought to be terrifying. In the Cat People the fear of the audience is the thought of what Irena is. We do not actually see her as a panther but, we can presume by her actions the being she truly is. This being is what we fear. According to Carroll we only identify with the character’s state. As a human we feel for others when you do not know them. As an audience we feel the fear of Alice and Oliver when they are in the office and approached by a dark growling shadow. Even though we are not familiar with them we can feel there fear because the sense of being alone in a dark deserted place with strange noises is a common experience. We as an audience can then take the state we felt during that time and relate it to the emotional state of Alice and Oliver.
I agree with Carrols theoretical view. We cannot hold the same emotional responses as the protagonist because ewe know more details then the character as well as the understanding that we are watching a horror film and that fear is only the product of thought.