Enjoyment of Unoriginal Characters: Individual Differences in Nostalgia-Proneness and Parasocial Relationships

The current study examined how parasocial relationships with both original (i.e., newly created and unfamiliar) and unoriginal (i.e., previously existing and familiar) characters and nostalgia-proneness can influence audience selection and enjoyment of movie adaptations. In an experiment, participants were exposed to storyboards previewing movies that could potentially be adapted from cartoon television shows to become future movies. The storyboards were manipulated to have either original or unoriginal characters. Afterward, participants reported how much they enjoyed and felt nostalgic about the stimuli, their future viewing intentions, and their parasocial interactions with the characters. Results showed that participants with stronger parasocial relationships with both original and unoriginal characters predicted greater parasocial interactions, enjoyment, and viewing intentions. Additional results partially demonstrated that those with stronger nostalgia-proneness expressed greater enjoyment and future viewing intentions for storyboards with unoriginal characters.