HBO in the Blogosphere: Why Character Blogs Don’t Work

Character blogs have never gone over very well in the blogosphere, and I’m not sure that HBO’s new character blog ought to be any exception. The blog is supposed to be written by Margene Heffman, the fictional youngest wife of fictional polygamist Bill Paxton Hendrickson (Paxton is the actor’s last name) on HBO’s new series, Big Love.

I’ve always had mixed views on the subject of character blogs. Last year I wrote on this blog that I disagreed with the blogosphere’s derision of GourmetStation’s fictional blog host T. Alexander. And just recently I wrote on my personal blog that Barbie needs a blog. But to tell you the truth, I understand why people find them much less compelling than blogs written by human beings.

Margene is a very interesting character on camera, but I already know all about her life by watching the show itself. If I’m going to read a blog about the show in addition to watching it, I’d much rather hear from real-life actress Ginnifer Goodwin about her opinions on polygamy, the latest episode and what she thinks of her character.

A few months ago, I attended a seminar on Jungian psychological archetypes in the films of Alfred Hitchcock. The presenter, Dr. John Beebe told the assembled crowd that the characters in films could never possibly approach the level of complexity of a real human being. Instead, each character represented an archetype, and when they interacted it gave the film a kind of complexity that approached humanity. I tend to agree with him.

That’s why character blogs will never really work. No fictional character - no matter how carefully crafted - can ever approach the complexity of a real human being. And when compared to human bloggers with changing opinions and real lives, blogs “written” by fictional characters will always fall a bit flat.