Why do you think people blame and hate characters for their bad characteristics and decisions, instead of blaming the writers and creators for writing them so horribly?

My friend Gregg (RIP) liked a Victorian term for a certain kind of person: “sniffsmock.” I’m not sure how this is relevant to your question, but I invite everyone to use “sniffsmock” as an insult soon. “Speaker Johnson, you are a sniffsmock.”

I think it's valid to hate characters for who they are and how they behave, and still celebrate their writers / creators for writing them this way. I can loathe Walter White, and still think Breaking Bad is a masterpiece. But maybe that's exactly the nuance that the people who you are asking about do not have...

I love to analyze both! When reading or watching a story unfold, I try to make an in-story guess or analysis for why they are doing what they are doing. How do they benefit or suffer from it? How does their past and actions shape them? What are the nuances? At times, this completely falls short. I think it's easy to forget that just like you, there will be a bias from the writers and at the end of the day they are telling a story and guiding us to see what they are trying to portray. And sometimes it DOES fall short. Does it ruin the entire concept, story, character, or actions? Not completely, or sometimes it does for others. But the point is we have the ability to either accept it for what it is or use our critical thinking and feelings to form our own opinions.

Because to criticize the writers would be to break kayfabe. People want to stay immersed in the world of the story and acknowledging that it IS a story makes that a little bit harder.

Excellent question! For me, I think part of it is that there is a tendency for an audience to project their values and judge the character on a moral level and ignore why a character was written that way. I know when I am watching a show/film I can get really immersed and feel the character is so real and making their own choices that I don't even think about the fact that they are acting out a script. I have heard some writers say they want their audience to hate and blame some characters for their bad characteristics and decisions because they want to generate negative reactions, challenge the boundaries and test the audience patience...sometimes it is simply to move the storyline forward. For me it adds to the realism because as happens in real life, a character that that ends up blamed or acts bad and makes very poor and tragic choices...that can force them to grow and seek redemption and/or face the consequences or simply remain a bad person...the same as it is in real life. I tend to watch media to be entertained more than I study the reasons or whys a writer wrote a character a certain way or put the blame there. 

It doesn't make sense to me to hate the writers. They're creating the character that way purposely to rub people the wrong way, to provoke a reaction, to make us feel and think and relate. I only hate writers if the characters are just badly written / one dimensional / not relatable at all. But good writing should create characters that you feel strongly about - be that love or hate

"The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means." Miss Prism, talking about novels in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, is unfortunately a highly representative reader across centuries lmao

If we are talking about the new season of iwtv. I truly do not think the people who are complaining about the writing understand what the story being told is and most certainly do not understand the characters. The new season the vampire Lestat is also a masterpiece. As a book reader, I enjoy some of the choices they made here because they made a lot the subtext into text. I wish we had more time to show some more of the backstory of Lestat and some of my favorite characters like Nicky but the show is doing as has done a fantastic job so far with the source Material. I just wanna see how they land it because they are indeed taking multiple risks and a wild ass turn.

This is a fantastic discussion to have. I love this question, Frank.

We also bring our prejudices with us in everything we do -- conscious or unconscious biases. Examples: People who hate IWTV or TVL for its unashamed embrace of queerness. Or those who dislike that they cast Black actors for Claudia and Louis. People who won't give Andor a real chance bc it's "woke" -- in spite of the fact that the Jedi have been fighting the imperialists since the first film was released. The good guys and villains did not change. But people rightly see that now they are more aligned with the villains' goals, beliefs, actions, and they cannot self evaluate or question. So they write it off or condemn it altogether.

I think they are the same people who get upset when someone has a different interpretation of scenes and characters than them. They don’t look beyond what has been shown to them and think there way is the only way.

Most people engage with stories as if they're real people, not part of a script. It's evaluating a character in a fictional world based around "If I knew this person, how would I feel?" A script, on the other hand, is evaluated on how well a character is written. I think there's also an emotional component. I've disliked characters because they remind me of someone. You're not even reacting to the writing at that point but feeling(s) that the character evokes. I don't really consider it bad writing unless the writing goes in directions that doesn't make sense. Take Rue for example. She's one of the most beautifully flawed characters, in my humble opinion, but that last season was written horribly.

If we’re talking about characters in general that usually make questionable choices or act a certain way (which would be 100% intentional by the writers): I think some people forget they’re watching something fictional and attribute the character’s wrongdoings to moral failings. Which is silly considering fiction aways serves a purpose and uses the character as a medium to share a story… but to each their own. Meanwhile if we’re talking about characters acting weird or out of character without any seeming explanation (because the writers messed up the characterization), then i would say it’s the audience’s turn to give the character some grace and point fingers at the the writers’ mistakes instead. But you know how some people are, specially when they use these mischaracterizations as an excuse to hate on certain characters and ‘prove’ their hatred right.

As a writer: we want people to hate our characters, sometimes! It's one reason I'm so enamored with well-written, detestable characters.

Casual viewers don’t know the writers’ or even director’s name/face, so it could be easier to put the blame on a character that they can see and name. It’s also an easier way to deal with media. If the bad characteristics/decisions are in character and make sense within the story, I feel it’s more fitting to blame the character than its creators for doing their job well aha. Like hating a villain. However, if those bad attributes are out of pocket, uncharacteristic etc; and are in reality the creators’ biases seeping through and messing up the character / story. Then it’s a bit naive to treat the character like they’re a sentient being, changing all these things about themselves 😭. A good example might be Annie from the Boys, and how her character has devolved significantly. And the audience’s following response. There are also viewers who are bigoted, and will treat a character making bad decisions etc as a scapegoat for their bigotry.

I think for me it really depends on if the bad decisions fits the character. If it's a bad decision that makes no sense for that character and there is nothing about their personality that would allude to them doing that specific thing then I'll blame it on poor writing. But otherwise I just look at it as a bad decision that a character made and that it's just a bad character who is intended to be received that way.

It's easier to project onto characters than writers.

Lack of media literacy? Lack of exposure to literary/artistic criticism and various lenses through which we should view said literature/art? How many times I asked my students to question the author's decision making and purpose ... I couldn't possibly count.

If I'm using a certain award-winning show and my disdain for a certain meth mongering character as an example: because of great acting

Perhaps it’s the same reason people blame the homeless and downtrodden for their circumstances instead of the societies that created them.

Because bad characteristics and decisions aren’t always due to bad writing. Sometimes people just have bad characteristics and make bad decisions. Making bad decisions is part of being human and I think media should represent the good and the bad of being a person that is constantly evolving.

Because people are irrational numpties. Writers write problematic characters because real people are problematic. You don't have to like characters, sometimes that's the exact point; but I stand by my numpties statement.