Which Characters Have The Most Inspirational Careers?

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On the JJ Barnes Blog, I check out research into which characters from TV and Film have the most inspirational careers that audiences want to emulate.

As a young woman, as well as characters like the ass-kicking Buffy Summers and Sydney Bristow, I aspired to be the writing stars Lois Lane and Carrie Bradshaw. While vampire slaying and international spying seemed somewhat out of reach, sitting at a computer writing, or interviewing people for stories, seemed like something I could really focus energy into emulating.

While I don’t have the high flying career of Lois, or the incredible New Yorker lifestyle of Carrie, I have been able to put my passion for writing to use. So, out of curiosity, I decided to check out which other TV and film characters are inspiring audiences to find the careers of their dreams!

Inspirational Careers

The resarch, which was done by Irish casino Slotbox, looked at the jobs held by the main characters in more than 200 popular movies and TV shows. They also did a search analysis to see if there was a related increase in interest from viewers who were inspired by the characters.

After that, an influence score was assigned to each figure, which revealed the most significant on-screen inspirations by reflecting changes in search interest following the debut of each TV show or movie.

(Sources: Google Trends, IMDb Top 100 TV Shows and Top 100 Films lists. Search volume and TV/film release dates used were from the UK.)

Most Searched For Jobs

Even though Chicago marketing executive Emily Cooper landed her dream job in Paris, she has struggled to settle into her career. Despite this, she has been named the most inspiring figure, and many Emily in Paris fans want to follow in her footsteps.

Google searches for “marketing executive jobs” increased by 9,900% in the first 24 hours following the premiere of the Netflix series in October 2020, giving Emily Cooper the highest influence score out of the more than 200 figures analyzed.

The study found that Instagram user Emily Cooper inspires more people than Chrishell Stause, a real-life influencer and real estate agent who stars in Selling Sunset.

Searches for “marketing jobs in Paris” also saw a significant increase (up 3,500%) throughout the same time period, indicating that fans were not just interested in Emily’s professional life.

In fact, whenever jobs in the media were shown on screen, they were especially popular with viewers. After the Netflix drama The Journalist came out at the beginning of the year, searches for “journalism jobs” also increased by 9,900%.

Even though main character Jordan Belfort’s career was ruined and he was sentenced to prison, searches for “Wall Street” jobs and “stockbroker jobs” skyrocketed in response to the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.

Fans also connected with folk musician Colm Doherty from The Banshees of Insherin, who led to an increase in searches for “how to learn music,” and Benoit Blanc from Glass Onion, who sparked interest in private investigators.

Five Most Inspirational Jobs

Even though some people turned out to be much more inspiring than others, there were some professions that kept people interested when they were shown on screen. The five job roles that generated the most searches were as follows when grouped together:

1. Detective  
2. Journalist 
3. Musician 
4. Secret Agent 
5. Chef 

Not all popular television shows and movies featured jobs that piqued viewers’ interest; astronauts, paramedics, office workers, and cleaners did not result in an increase in job searches.

Only Jessica Day from the sitcom New Girl resulted in a slight increase in searches (60 percent increase), making teacher a role that was also underrepresented and somewhat undesirable.

What Inspires Us?

Experts at Slotbox shared thoughts on what it is about these jobs that inspires us most.

Since people seek inspiration in a variety of settings, it stands to reason that for some, the media they consume and the figures they identify with can help them decide which interests, including careers, they would like to pursue.

These days, a lot of movies and TV shows are about lawyers, like Suits, She-Hulk, and The Lincoln Lawyer. Lawyers are often seen as very driven, passionate, and pretty, so we would have expected that to be the most inspiring profession.

However, the fact that people are most intrigued by roles as detectives and investigators is much more relatable. We’ve all done it while watching television, after all!

It’s interesting to note that, when it comes to career inspiration, the research also found that 46% of respondents were female and 54% were male.

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