Drop your email here for ticket drops: bingethinking.co
(Subscribers gets it first!)
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MORALLY GRAY CHARACTERS: And Why They Are So Compelling | BINGE THINKING BOS
Welcome to Binge Thinking. We invite professors and experts to give lectures in bars around Boston, NYC and DC!
In a world of AI slop, doomscrolling and brainrot, Binge Thinking brings real experts into real places for nights of learning, conversation, and community.
Think Responsibly.
TOPIC:
The Psychology of Morally Gray Characters: And Why They Are So Compelling
SPEAKER:
Professor Chevahn Brown, Emerson College & Boston University
We love to hate them. We hate that we love them. Walter White cooks meth and we root for him anyway. Tyler Durden blows things up and somehow becomes a whole generation's blueprint for "living authentically." What is wrong with us?
Nothing, actually. According to author and narrative expert Chevahn Brown, our obsession with morally gray characters says less about our own ethics and more about what makes a story feel human in the first place. Plots twist, worlds burn, timelines fracture, but it's the people at the center, their contradictions, their choices, their inconvenient truths, that keep us leaning in.
In this talk, Chevahn breaks down why "likability" is the wrong question to be asking about a character, and why the messy, self protective, ambitious, wounded ones are often the characters we trust the most.
Topics include:
Why characters like Walter White and Tyler Durden keep us watching, even when they're making terrible choices
How morally gray characters create tension between judgment and empathy, and why that tension can make a story feel more human
What "likability" gets wrong, and why audiences often connect more deeply with characters who are contradictory, messy, self protective, ambitious, wounded, or wrong
About the Speaker
Chevahn Brown, MFA, BA, is an author, narrative expert, and educator known as The Story Activator. She holds a BA and an MFA, and in 2021 she founded The Write Story Studio, LLC, a creative hub where she works through consultations, development projects, and collaborative storytelling. Her flagship course, The Anatomy of a Character, teaches writers to build layered, unforgettable characters whose motivations drive the story instead of the other way around.
Her drama thriller TV pilot, Kane, was a Quarterfinalist in the Final Draft Big Break International Contest, and her debut novel, Inside Out, follows a bullied teenager whose newfound powers force him to choose between heroism and darker impulses. She has taught at Emerson College, Boston University, The Metro West Writers' Guild, and The Muse Writers' Center, and her upcoming release with Penguin Random House launches a new series of tools and frameworks for storytellers everywhere.
Agenda
7:00 PM — Doors Open (Grab a seat and drinks!)
7:30 PM — Lecture Begins
8:10 PM — Audience Q&A
8:30 PM — Drinks & Conversation
9:00 PM — Event Ends
***
Join us and grab a drink as we unpack why we'd trust Walter White with our secrets before we'd trust our nice coworker...
Drop your email here for ticket drops: bingethinking.co
(Subscribers gets it first!)