Threads and Tales by Sofia: The Impatient Audience

By Sofia Lamdichi | February 2, 2026

It has become impossible to ignore that savoring literature and film is littered with an impatient attitude towards the characters by many audiences. How dare we read or watch a character who is imperfect? After all, we use art to escape the imperfect lives we lead. The last thing audiences seem to want is to look into a mirror rather than stare at a screen or at words on a page. Due to audiences expecting perfection, it has also been noted that films and literature have dropped the imperfect characters and storylines.  

With the revival of many older films and pieces of literature, audiences cannot fathom experiencing a character that makes them cringe, angry, disappointed, or sad. This sentiment, however, is spilling into reality. The media is flooded with people policing others for being complex. If one is not harming others through their actions and is solely making you uncomfortable, what gives you the right to police them? 

One of the many notable examples of audiences being impatient with flawed characters in film would be the recent mixed public reaction to the character “Carrie” from the television series “Sex and The City.” Older generations regarded her life as a messy inspiration, as she is a character that may have had imperfect love stories, but they were realistic and throughout it all, kept a good group of friends with her. Today, much of the discourse surrounds the idea that nobody should take Carrie into consideration when naming influential television characters since there were moments of her being cringe, unfriendly, toxic, and obnoxious.  

Everyone that we will meet will be vastly different from us, so why condition our minds to no longer have patience with different personalities? When entering a classroom, public area, or workplace, one must be able to coexist with those they do not identify with. We are not meant to be friends with everyone in the world so why expect every character in film to mirror your “type” of person? 

With an influx in morally ambiguous characters, there is an increase in morally ambiguous narratives. If this continues, how are we meant to be challenged intellectually during our day to day lives if we do not allow ourselves to be challenged through fiction? Art is meant to be the best outlet for expressing diverse types of emotions and perspectives. It should be alarming that every time some people experience art, they do not have a single thought in their heads challenged by a narrative, character, or lesson the art is portraying.