That's interesting b/c I just posted something along those lines in a comment to Scott's threat about analyzing screenplays.

So I guess that means people have a more lasting response to characters they like (or fear, or love to hate) than the situations they are put in.

Make sense to me. That tends to explain why some eye-candy films such as The A-Team give a jolt, but don't emotionally satisfy. Or why, despite the gajillion dollars it made, no one will be talking about Transformers in the years to come (indeed, no one talks about it now.)