Getting their personality from TV

[Hedgehog]

I don't watch much TV, normally it takes me several days to get through an episode of a show since I'll only have it on when I'm doing something else that doesn't take much attention, like cleaning or the gym.


TV was central to my dad's life though, it's all he did besides go to work.


I recently started watching the wire, which I remember was a show that he was into. But I was really surprised by one of the gangster characters because literally everything this character said, and all of his philosophies behind running his gang were things I've heard my dad say, and philosophies about parenting he was into at one point. Like my dad saw this smart tough gang leader character on this show and just decided that's his personality now.


This isn't the first time I've watched an older movie or show and discovered that my dad took some kind of influence from a character. But it's one of the most absurd examples because my dad was a spoiled white kid from the Midwest, not a gangster from the rough part of Baltimore.


Is it common for personality disordered people to absorb fictional characters like this?

[Invisiblewoman]

My brother has a fascination with the Italian mafia and even said he was initiated into the mafia. He is British blood, and a total white boy. Not a hint of Italian.

It was a cringy watching him mimic Italian-ness.  I think he liked the lack of ethics and thievery in the movies. It gave creative license to his own poor behaviour.

[sunshine702]

That was a good show but wow yeah that is unsettling!  I know Cluster B's feel EMPTY inside truthfully and I guess yeah a well written character from the tv could fill them up I guess. 

[Catothecat]

Since personality disordered people are sometimes described as having a "fractured" personality and unstable sense of self, it would make sense that they might adapt the behaviors of a fictional (or even real) character in order to feel some stability, however temporary.  But I suspect it's more mimicking of behaviors than actually taking on a specific type of personality.  I doubt they're actually able to do that.  But what they CAN do is act it out.

I noticed this repeatedly in a NPD friend I had.  I could always tell when he'd watched one of his favorite movies or tv shows because for awhile after he would take on the behaviors of the character he wanted to emulate.  And they were always the same behaviors.  At first I found it very strange and had a "what's going on?" type reaction until I understood the source.  Then I just found it sad.

[SeaBreeze]

Stbx-uNPDh started doing this in more recent years. Youngest DS observed it first with a character from an animated series, of all things. I noticed it more after stbx began literally talking like a main character that I absolutely love in a currently popular series (portrayed by an actual human actor, at least). It's hot when the character talks like that, but just WEIRD when stbx did it. Looking back, I wonder if maybe stbx ALWAYS did this, but I didn't notice or realize? He certainly has often parroted certain views of pundits he admires. But this influence from fictional characters truly seems to be a more recent development as stbx ages and shows signs of both narcissistic collapse paired with cognitive decline.

[losingmyself]

Once my XH saw a certain musician on TV, then changed into the same outfit as this person before we went out.
I thought "Wow. You actually don't know who you are, do you?" He was a middle aged man at this point.

[olivegirl]

Yes!  My very immature parents are obsessed with mafia movies and openly admire the backstabbing, lying, violent and misogynistic views expressed by the characters. 

They will also memorize lines and restate them—completely clueless at how inappropriate and creepy they sound.