“¿Qué significa identificarse con un personaje de ficción? El caso de En mis ojos de Bastien Vivès”

Abstract

Most analytical philosophers think that, strictly speaking, it is impossible to identify with a fictional character. At most, it is possible to feel empathy, or some kind of partial identification based on certain aspects that we imagine to share with the character. In contrast, in this paper I hold that, if we establish an analogy between fictional works and the thought experiments used in the debate over personal identity, it is possible to defend that, in certain cases, one can identify completely with a fictional character. In the last section I analyze the case of Bastien Vivès’ graphic novel Dans mes yeux (In my eyes). Through this analysis, I show how three elements that have an influence on the process of identification (the features of the fictional work, the features of the reader and the interpretative stance that the reader takes towards the text) work.