movies/tv Teen kills himself after favourite tv character dies.

[Shankveld 4,945]

Where is the line between being a fan and having a serious problem?

 

So some of you may have heard the story of the teenaged boy in russia whom killed himself after his favourite anime character died. Article here.

 

It's easy to get very mentally and emotionally involved in a TV show.

I've cried countless times when favourite characters of mine go through any emotional turmoil and even death.

And to some people even that is too far.

But the idea of actually killing myself because I'm so emotional disturbed over the death of a character is a concept beyond my scope of understanding.

 

Which brings me back to my original question.

How invested are you into some of these characters in our fandom or any fandom?

When does being a fan of a show reach over into the unhealthy state or even the life threatening state?

 

Discuss.

 

~

[MachineGunLola 408]

oh my god, that is really scary.. I personally have cried and been sad for a while after a character dies or gets broken up with, but suicide is too far..

 

i think if you watch a show all day, every day, and don't eat or drink, or you start copying the character exactly, that is too far.

i understand a few episodes a day, and maybe wanting some cosplay, but there is deff. a point you need to stop..

 

ps:

you always come up with good topics, shank.

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I honestly do know people that are REALLY into different TV shows, and they have come to school sad, because one of the characters had been going through rough times. I don't think this is too far, but I do think harming yourself on account of what a character on a TV show does, that just doesn't make sense to me.

[AnonyPoni 564]

After watching an entire series, I generally cry for a while afterwards, no matter how happy the ending. I'm sad that the characters I've connected with are basically gone

 

When Carson Beckett died in Stargate: Atlantis, I basically cried myself to sleep. I cry too much.

 

So, yeah, i get really into a show and feel for the characters. It wont drive me to suicide, but I get really into the emotions.

 

As you can imagine, Ponies have done the same thing to me...

[Zeruis 53]

I'm quite invested in the characters in the FIM show, but going so far to kill yourself after your favorite character died in ANY fandom is going way too far. I don't know, some people may have established these extreme connections to characters, but I would not not go that far to actually kill yourself over it. I think the furthest unhealthy state you can go is to liken a character enough that it would have a significant effect on your life.

 

Take The Walking Dead, for example. My favorite characters get killed off quite regularly. I just quit reading the comics, nothing extreme.

[Motion Spark 7,806]

I don't want to say anything that can affect me here because on the forums there are people who actually lives for certain characters from MLP, I'm not gonna say names.

 

but yeah, that's a bad thing to do.

[Starshine 16,330]

I can only wish this is the case with a lot of mainstream stuff (seeing all those fangirls killing themselves en masse when Ace or Dumbledore dies would be priceless)

 

Never really cared much about any fiction characters (other than how beautiful or awesome they are), I don't really understand what he got in that boy's head to drive him jump like that.

Liking fiction characters or universes is okay, but when you start to revere them as if they are real then you need to douse yourself with freezing water, even more so if you tried to claim a canon character as your waifu.

 

It’s been known since 2008 that the character dies.

He's 4 years late, oh god my sides

[Vicke 3,187]

Jeesh, i was going to make a blog post about this one, guess you were a little faster than me!

 

Anyhow, i don't think the show should be blamed for this, but his father should.

Since its his son, he as a father have the responsibility to make sure that the kid knows the difference between fiction and reality. But i'm sure some goofball will blame the anime and the anime community for it.

 

We all have feelings for characters, and we are able to create emotions with them. We will cry when they die and we will get happy when they succeed. A good example would be when Jiraya died from the Naruto series. I cried, a lot.

[Smokin'HotRarity 182]

I honestly could see this happening if one of the mane6 died, or many going into a depression or something like that. Sometimes you get really attached to characters, and if you are suicidal to begin with, could flip your world upside down. It doesn't take that much of a trigger.

[Nah 3,181]

TV shows never made me cry, but this is insane, I'm not doing that if Rainbow Dash dies or some other character from another show dies. :/

 

That is just going overboard.

[Thundershy 144]

People get so wrapped up in things sometimes, that it becomes their whole world mentally. It's really sad when people don't make it to the point they realize things get better. I've talked to a lot of people while they, or someone close to them, is killing themselves. It usually happens over something small, but they are an emotional wreck because they've built it up to be so important. Very sad.

[Vicke 3,187]

He's 4 years late, oh god my sides

 

Bare in mind that it was a Russian Teen.

Since he lived in Russia and he was only 14 years old, his English might not have been the best.

So what if he waited for the dubbed version? 4 years late for you means maybe just a day old for him.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Vicke

[Starshine 16,330]

Since he live in Russia and he only was 14 years old, his English might not have been the best.

You do know that the entire Naruto fandom was in an uproar when Itachi died, right? Countless fans all over the world mourned his death for months, some even still angry to this day, one must be very isolated to miss all that stuff.

 

And for the english part, I've seen a lot of examples where ten years old boys from various countries can read english and know how to use Google.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Star Weaver

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

That's just more than a fandom, he devoted almost his entire life to this character. This is very dangerous and this kid had a connection with the character. I relate to Rainbow-Dash because I love physical activites and always want to help, yet I can be a bit arrogant sometimes. Whenever I see her arrogant, I get this creak in my chest, because of what she did was not the best thing.

 

I relate to the other five as well.

[Doctor XFizzle 8,651]

I'll throw a ****ing rave party with my pants off if The Great and Powerful Trixie gets written off.

 

I don't get too attached to any characters because that character or TV show isn't at the center of my life. It's a complement used to enhance it.

[BronyDerp117 113]

He killed himself because his favorite character died? That's...kind of scary. I won't disrespect him(R.I.P.) but that's too far. I've gotten pretty emotional in a TV Show before. In The Walking Dead when

Dale

died, it actually teared me up because he was my favorite character. Books have done the same to me. In the Hunger Games, when

Rue

died, it teared me up too.

[Champion RD92 8,654]

As much as I love Rainbow Dash, I would never kill myself if she died in the show. I would just be really pissed off at the writers for killing off my favorite character.

 

Committing suicide over a character in a show is just ridiculous...

[Vicke 3,187]

You do know that the entire Naruto fandom was in an uproar when Itachi died, right? Countless fans all over the world mourned his death for months, some even still angry to this day, one must be very isolated to miss all that stuff.

 

And for the english part, I've seen a lot of examples where ten years old boys from various countries can read english and know how to use Google.

 

So?

It was a great character and a big loss to the series. His death was very emotional and it hit most of the fans because it was a very well developed character, and a character that you could have feelings for.

 

He was 14 years old, which means Internet might have been a little unknown to him.

He lived in Russia where English education is very bad. So he would not have been able to watch any sub version.

 

When i was Digimon [Or any other show when i was little] i hardly knew anything about Internet. I know of a few flashgame sites but that was about it. This might have been a case for him. Knowing that there is a great show on the TV every weekend and thats what you watch of it.

 

And just because the majority of every teen knows how to google [Or whatever] doesn't mean everyone knows.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Vicke

[Riclo 160]

Nah...I wouldn't do that.

 

If Rainbow Dash was killed for whatever reason. I...actually don't know what I'd do. It would probably F me up pretty badly though.

[Nohbdy 4,108]

Not gonna lie. I laughed. Hard. Reminds me of the guy who killed himself over a Harry Potter spoiler. Which was actually a joke.

 

People can be so stupid sometimes, but I do wonder if this is actually legit.

Edited November 3, 2012 by Aquila

[Guest]

Media is meant to let us escape from our worldy problems, not make them worse. You have to have some level of detachment from it to stay healthy in our media filled world. Yes, its sort of fun to become attached to a character and cry along with them, and be happy when something goes well in the show. I've even envied characters before, wishing I could be in their world too. But its a sign of mental instability when you actually take it to a point like that.

 

I wonder sometimes if it just seems like more people are killing themselves in our day and age because of the news, or if we really do kill ourselves more than our ancestors?

[Shanks 10,811]

Anyone who is willing to go so far as to kill themselves for any reason has serious issues and needs help, what I hate about alot of stories like this is how the mainstream media often blows this stuff out of proportion and seeks to blame the show or in many cases videogame. For someone who is suicidal virtually anything even something relatively trivial has the potential to become the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. Even most fans that take their fandom way way way too far and there are plenty of those in every major fandom will never go even close to that far.

[Radiance64 7,051]

Damn, that`s rough, my condolences to that guy's friends and family.

Still, that's a rather odd thing to commit suicide over imo, of course I would never go that far, that's ridiculous.

[Thundershy 144]

I wonder sometimes if it just seems like more people are killing themselves in our day and age because of the news, or if we really do kill ourselves more than our ancestors?

One thing I have learned is that a LOT more things happen than you hear about in the news. I rarely hear about a suicide in the news here, yet easily a dozen people will attempt it in one night just in my area. They only report on it if it makes an interesting news story people will tune in to watch...

[Vicke 3,187]

Not gonna lie. I laughed. Hard. Reminds me of the guy who killed himself over a Harry Potter spoiler. Which was actually a joke.

 

People can be so stupid sometimes, but I do wonder if this is actually legit.

 

Laughing over someones death is even more pathetic if you ask me. I doubt that you actually laughed at it but its something you made up to either get attention or to make you look like some cool guy.

 

While a do agree that its a stupid thing to do, i see no reason to to point out that you laughed.