The announcement made Tuesday by Luc Dionne and the producers to end the daily District 31 in the month of April resulted in a deluge of comments where thanks and words of love rubbed shoulders with sadness, anger and, in several cases, the expression of dismay at the idea of seeing Chiasson , Bissonnette, Gagné, St-Hilaire, Guindon and company bow out.
Posted yesterday at 7:00 a.m.
The fact of unplugging a series enjoying such a great love rating in the middle of a pandemic, at a time when we have never spent so much time at home, and where the television and the computer have become buoys to which we cling to have a semblance of everyday life, gives a blow that hurts the soul, the heart and the guts.
In interview with Press, the DD Christine Grou, president of the Ordre des psychologues du Québec, confirms this in clear terms.
“In the context we live in, people don’t want to suffer losses,” she says. When a series is loved and followed for a long time, it ends up becoming part of people’s daily lives, of their routine. Already, we never like to see something we love disappear. And right now, people are under so much strain and loss that television is becoming one of the hobbies that is left and that is safe, in the sense that there is no direct contact. ”
There is therefore a little mourning to do, continues Mr.me Grou, while specifying that an important factor is added: fatigue.
HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT PHOTO, PRESS ARCHIVES
Christine Grou, President of the Order of Psychologists of Quebec
People are psychologically tired, and one of the recommendations we give them is to relax, to go to things that make them feel restful. If watching a TV show is one of those relaxing things that you take away from it, it’s worse than in other settings.
Christine grou
M’s wordsme Grou find their echo in two other specialists with whom Press interviewed: psychologist Rose-Marie Charest and Pierre Barrette, director of the Media School of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
“ District 31 is not the kind of show for which we are going to ‘binge watch’ with dozens of episodes at the end of the week, analyzes the director. Rather, it is the type to enter into people’s daily lives and becomes, in a way, a kind of extension of life. It punctuates the days and it is part of the organization of these. So that can, I believe, reinforce the kind of mourning consecutive to the end of the series. ”
Become attached to the characters
Rose-Marie Charest evokes for her part the strong attachment that viewers will have in relation to the characters.
“We saw this attachment when the police officer Poupou (Sébastien Delorme) was killed,” she raises. If we are interested in cinema, in series, it is because we establish a link, we identify with certain characters. “
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, PRESS ARCHIVES
Psychologist Rose-Marie Charest
They play a role in our lives. They distract us. They allow us to live on the external scene of the conflicts that we live internally. This is why so many people can be shocked if they don’t know the end of the story or if it ends badly.
Rose-Marie Charest, psychologist
She further believes that the impact of the end of the show may be stronger on people living alone. “People who live alone and follow series and soap operas invest more in the characters and experience it even more closely. However, currently, people who live alone are even more alone. And those who don’t live alone have a smaller circle of distraction. So the impact probably takes on more importance. ”
Among viewers
In their own way, and through more than 6,500 comments on the official Facebook page of the series as of Tuesday night, fans have also greatly verbalized their emotions. Thanks and congratulations poured in, but they were accompanied by so many emojis of characters crying all the tears in their bodies.
“Quebec will be in solid mourning in the spring, it’s a decision that has certainly been difficult to make,” wrote Caroline Lépine before wishing the team members the best.
“So I have a lot of trouble … c tu normal”, expressed Jess Ika Bérard, whose name is accompanied by a diamond “Super fan” of the series.
Johanne Corbeil shows how close she felt to the characters by writing: “Phew! ! It’s like being told that I am losing lots of friends forever! ! She then thanked Luc Dionne for his work.
For her part, Danielle Paradis tells how the intrigues sparked discussions in her entourage. “Thank you for these wonderful years, but weaning will be difficult,” she wrote. My commander is Chiasson my new Lieutenant I adore him. It’s the show that brings together my mother, my sons, my CEGEP students and me between the ages of 20 and 80… we chat up intrigues, we try to predict… but we didn’t want to talk about that at the end! ! ! ! ”
“It’s a shock,” said Press Christiane Collerette Brisebois, one of the administrators of the Facebook page “For true fans of District 31 », Which has more than 92,000 members. “It’s still six years that the characters are every night on our screen. It is certain that we are attached. ”