The Death of Kal Penn, Dr. Kutner, and Reality

The death of Dr. Kutner, a character portrayed by Kal Penn on the show House, is the buzz of the day on the Internet. The death from an apparent gun shot wound to the head in an episode entitled "Simple Explanation" has rattled House fans. Through a twist of marketing, an obituary for Dr. Kutner on Fox's website was twisted into the misinformed belief of Kal Penn's death. But how could this line between the fiction on TV and reality become blurred?

For many, the characters we see on television become all too human. I remember my Grandmother watching her 'stories' (Soap Operas) religiously every afternoon. For a few hours every day, my Grandmother stepped inside another world and caught up with her TV family. When she would speak about the characters on the show, the lines between reality and fantasy blurred. I could never tell if the person she was talking about was someone real, or someone from her 'stories'.

Now that I am older, I know the experience my Grandmother had with these TV characters falls under a theory called Reader-response. In the reader-response theory, the TV viewer is an active participant in the events they view. When the show stops, it continues in the mind of the viewer. Dialogue, loose ends, and creative twists all form within their minds. In essence, the TV show is only a catalyst for the mental story in the viewer's mind.

The character Kal Penn portrayed, Dr. Kutner, was real in the minds of House viewers. An emotional bond and a sense of familiarity with Dr. Kutner was built up over two seasons. Dr. Kutner's death on House caused TV viewers to feel shocked and feel emotions as if it was someone they knew in real life. Fox played upon this connection by placing the obituary for Dr. Kutner on their website.

This strong emotional connection viewers had with Dr. Kutner points to the strong acting abilities of Kal Penn. Viewers felt so strongly that Dr. Kutner was Kal Penn that the line between actor and character was blurred.

As humans, we need to feel connected to others. This connection has become harder to maintain in today's society because of the physical and emotional distance our hectic lives produce. So in lieu of real connections with humans, we have substituted connections with characters like Dr. Kutner on House.

Perhaps this universal strong connection evidenced by the online chat boards bemoaning Kal Penn's death shows more about our society than about House or Dr. Kutner.

References:

Definition of Reader- Response Criticism. http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/Virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_reader.html

http://www.fox.com/house/