When we watch a character commit a negative action and we excuse or justify their behavior, we are loosening our moral standards for the sake of enjoying the story. Mina Tsay-Vogel has several studies which investigated character motivation, plot outcome and the engagement between audiences and characters from popular TV shows. For example , a study published in 2013 tested how character motivation influences how we feel about the character stating, “If the negative character was motivated by altruistic reasons, we’re more inclined to see that character in a positive light”. For example, Walter White turned to cooking and selling crystal meth which we normally would objectify to, but he did it because he was diagnosed with cancer and wanted
