Mining and modeling character networks

TL;DR

This paper analyzes character networks in novels and films, comparing their properties to various complex network models, and finds that the Chung-Lu model best fits these social networks based on motif analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of character networks in literature and film, and evaluates the fit of different stochastic models using machine learning on motif counts.

Findings

Chung-Lu model best fits character networks

Character networks exhibit properties of complex networks

Machine learning identifies the most suitable network model

Abstract

We investigate social networks of characters found in cultural works such as novels and films. These character networks exhibit many of the properties of complex networks such as skewed degree distribution and community structure, but may be of relatively small order with a high multiplicity of edges. Building on recent work of beveridge, we consider graph extraction, visualization, and network statistics for three novels: Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Steven King's The Stand, and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Coupling with 800 character networks from films found in the http://moviegalaxies.com/ database, we compare the data sets to simulations from various stochastic complex networks models including random graphs with given expected degrees (also known as the Chung-Lu model), the configuration model, and the preferential attachment model. Using machine learning techniques based on motif (or small subgraph) counts, we determine that the Chung-Lu model best fits character networks and we conjecture why this may be the case.