Out of character
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Out of character (sometimes abbreviated to OOC) is a phrase used in entertainment and role-playing to differentiate between a person playing a character and the character itself. When the person is being him-or-herself, he or she is said to be "out of character". The opposite, when the person is acting as the character, is "in character". Occasionally, a film, TV show, or book will break the fourth wall by having one of the characters step out of character and comment on the story or the other characters (often in a narrative way, which does not affect the story but only informs the viewer). As examples, the film Annie Hall and television show Malcolm in the Middle frequently use this device.
It may also refer to a time when a fictional character's behaviour is different from, and inconsistent with, how the character's personality (particularly their mental and emotional state) has been established in the past, without any apparent reason. The term does not usually apply to a character acting a certain way which is later explained in secret history, or to characters so minor little of their source personality is ever well-known. This process also applies to fan fiction where a character is acting differently from how he appeared in the story's source material.
OOC tends to have a bad connotation in fanfiction, as it 'destroys' large parts of the character's personality. Many people will avoid or badly review a story with an OOC character or characters. For this reason, some archives have rules that either disallow OOC characters, or ask that authors warn their readers in the summary. Most authors will have a minor or major OOC warning, minor being a small personality change, major being something that completely revamps a character.
OOC is not always negative; in monologues, for example, an author may attempt to explain, via either a self-conceived history or from previous events in the canonical series, a character's actions. In the Harry Potter fandom, one may run across a story from Draco Malfoy's point of view, explaining why he committed a specific action. Because we generally only get to see the story from Harry's point of view, the fiction might provide a rational explanation. Not all authors perceive this to be OOC; it depends on how the author presents the story and what 'evidence' they can bring to the table. In this sense, OOC is subjective, as it can be argued that all people see characters differently.
OOC can also be explained as character growth. For example, in the Evangelion series finale, Ikari Shinji is portrayed as being more assertive, while his fellow pilot Asuka Langley Soryu became submissive. While this could be seen as them being out of character, the two endured traumatic experiences shortly before the finale so it is not impossible to assume that the two simply matured.
