Brevbäraren, narren och evolutionen. En evolutionsteoretiskt orienterad komparativ analys av Dag-Otto Flink från Vallarnas friluftsteater och Puck och Botten från "En midsommarnattsdröm".
TeaterstudierTheatre studiesDag-OttoBottomPuckWilliam ShakespeareA Midsummer Night's Dream"Stefan & Krister"Vallarnas friluftsteaterHuman natureEvolutionBuskis
What is it that makes an audience love a character? Through comparative analysis and anevolutionary perspective, I have examined the relationship between the viewer ? the human ?and three popular characters: Shakespeare?s Bottom and Puck from A Midsummer Night?sDream and Dag-Otto Flink, the most popular character from Vallarnas friluftsteater inFalkenberg, Sweden. In what way do they attract us? Why do they attract us? The aim of thecomparative analysis between the characters was to reveal enough similarities for defining allthree as the same character type: the fool. One of the most important similarities for theevolutionary discussion was that especially Dag-Otto and Bottom are consistently themselves.Furthermore, the Darwinian perspective, especially with theories of Daniel Nettle, indicatesthat there are several factors that come into play for successive fiction. An attention-drawingfiction succeeds in making an intensified version of social cognition, since it needs tocompensate for the fact that the audience does not know the characters. This depends heavilyon the content of the fiction. However, the form of the fiction may intensify the relation withthe audience even further, which can be seen in these characters.