Ravenclaw House

Within Hannah Schmidt’s article, A Magically Nice Guy: Parasocial Relationships with Harry Potter Across Different Cultures, the idea of parasocial relationships are discussed. Parasocial relationships are defined as a one sided relationship in which one party doesn’t know that the other person exists. This is seen mainly in your every day person becoming infatuated with a fictional character, or a famous person. These relationships can be healthy in helping a person to lead a better life, but they can also turn into an unhealthy obsession. This leads us to ask at what point we draw the line between infatuation and obsession.

First we must understand the ways in which a person displays an infatuation with an their parasocial partner. An infatuation, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is, “an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something.” The parasocial relationship is often one that will last for a short amount of time, but may be intense enough to seem like it is an obsession. We see this often with younger people as they try to find their way in the world and reproduce admirable characteristics of what they see in movies or books. In her article Schmidt explains, “Media characters – and we argue that this is especially true for Harry Potter – often display special and highly attractive characteristics which the media users either strongly admire and/or are longing to acquire themselves” (5). This triggers the infatuation where they try to mimic the characteristics of the characters they admire.

This short-term admiration and imitation can be beneficial to the imitator in that it can help them transform themselves into a better person. They pick up on the abilities and characteristics of those they are infatuated with, and since this is mainly the hero, are changed in a small amount for the better. Once they grow out of the infatuation they see the positive impact of their changed behavior (be it that they were braver, kinder, etc.) and continue to act in this manner, but as themselves rather than the character.

Obsession, on the other hand, is a more prolonged form of intensified infatuation. The Oxford English Dictionary as, “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind” defines obsession. Unlike infatuation in which the infatuated person strives to be more like someone, an obsessed person spends all their time thinking about this one person. (insert quote about why a person may be super attracted to character) This link they feel they have to the fictitious character leads them to begin to spend all of their time trying to either become or come in contact with this character.

This quickly becomes unhealthy in that they neglect other responsibilities and personal engagements to become or meet their “hero”. Some may even start having the delusion that they actually have a relationship with the other have of their PSR. This can lead them to do illegal things such as kidnapping or stalking in order to maintain the relationship they believe they have or begin the relationship they want.

To tell the difference between the two one only has to look at the duration and intensity of the PSR and see how it affects their lives. If the changes are short-term and positive, and the intensity remains at a controllable level, you are probably seeing an infatuation. If the PSR is a long-term intense relationship that takes up all of an individual’s time and thought, you are seeing an obsession.