Speaking only for myself…
A character in any story is created twice: once when the story is finalized, and once when it is consumed. So any story has two authors: the one who decides what the final form of the character will be before publication (generally the author of a novel or the director of a movie), and the one who consumes the published work.
So, everyone who consumes a story is consuming a slightly different version of the story. What this implies is that the characters we’re reading about aren’t being created as separate people, but as aspects of ourselves. Or, as I like to think about it, myself as I might be on a different day.
Morpheus might be me on a day when I feel that I can change the future by inspiring children. Trinity might be me on a day when my cynicism is at war with my romanticism. Cypher, a self-indulgent day when I just don’t feel like getting out of bed, because it doesn’t make a difference anyhow. Smith, a day when I feel that humanity should just be wiped off the face of the planet so the ecosystem can start repairing the harm we’ve done. And, as for Neo, I can’t think of a better representation of those days when I feel that if I applied myself, I could do anything.
A good movie will create characters where I can think, “Yes, I can see myself doing that on that day.”. A great movie will teach me something about myself that I didn’t already know.
Because i can only really know myself. Even when I feel sorry for other people, I’m feeling sorry for a simulation of myself in that situation. And since the characters in a story are more ourselves that the simulations of other people are (that is, I can understand a well-written character better than I can ever truly understand another real person), they’re much easier to empathize with.
Plus, y’know, speaking as someone with social anxiety, a fictional character can never truly reject me, so I can open myself up and empathize without risking my own fragile ego.
