A fan of Game of Thrones since its debut, Samantha would rather stay home to watch the latest episode than go with friends to a
party. When her favorite character, Shireen Baratheon, was burned alive in Season 5, Samantha was so devastated she had to call in sick to work the next day and suffered from insomnia the following month. Samantha had developed what scholars call a(n) ____________ relationship.
This term was invented by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956. Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party is completely unaware of the other’s existence.
Parasocial relationships are most common with celebrities or television stars (such as, in this case, the actress of Shireen Baratheon).
We can see that Samantha is experimenting this parasocial relationship given that she won't go out to see the TV show and felt devastated when the character she likes died, causing her insomnia for a month.
